The Dragons' Key
by Child Of The West Wind
Summary: Its now Aqua's job to teach the younger generation of Keyblade wielders as their senior Master. Micky appears with a new apprentice who wields a very different type of magic, and they find an old book detailing long forgotten legends about the Keyblade. Luckily, Aqua has her friends support as she guides them down this unknown road into new and forgotten territory of Keyblade lore.
1. The New Apprentice

**AN: Hello! This is my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic and since I've only ever play KH and KH2 and watched walkthroughs/read on wiki about the others just assume this is AU and post Dream Drop Distance – post whatever happens to bring the Birth By Sleep guys back together. I was thinking about what the gang might do once they were reunited, and if any new apprentices would appear, and then this character just walked into my head with a full back story and everything, so I started writing it down. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**

_**The New Apprentice**_

"Hey, Aqua!" Ven shouted, barrelling his way through the newly restored great hall, bursting with newfound energy. Ever since awakening he hadn't stopped moving save for when he was eating or for the few precious hours he spent power napping.

Aqua turned to meet him, her hands full of the books she was sorting from a large pile by the grand armchair. Master Eraqus had left them a _lot_ of reading material, and she had spent most of the week inwardly debating what needed storing away in the library, what needed keeping close at hand in the study, and what needed just plain chucking. She was tired, drooping from the mass clean up operation of the castle that had taken the first month after their arrival, and now from the tedious task of sifting through the objects that now belonged to _her_. Ven's arrival was a pleasant breath of fresh air, and his grin was so infectious that she smiled and threw the books unceremoniously over her shoulder onto the chair, deciding it could wait a bit.

"Ven! What's up?"

He skidded to a halt, nearly falling over his gangly limbs. He had grown considerably, and still wasn't used to his new frame or the endless supply of energy he seemed to draw upon. "Terra's making noodle soup for lunch!" he said, bouncing on the spot, reminding her forcefully of Sora.

She could just see them both as they were a month ago stood side by side, bouncing like popcorn kernels – it was amazing to think they were two separate entities. It would be easy to mistake them for relatives, or even two sides of the same person. But then again, that was sort of true in its own way too…

"C'mon, Aqua! You've done nothing but work for the last few weeks! Can't you take a break for five minutes?"

"There's still a lot to do," she gestured at the mountain of books and scrolls yet to be sorted, and felt her heart sink. "Like you and Terra keep reminding me, I'm the Master now. Which means I'm in charge, which also means I've got to organise this place."

"You don't _have_ to do it by yourself!" Ven laughed, kicking one leg behind the other and cushioning the back of his head with his hands. "Master Eraqus always had us running round doing chores for him! You could just ask us,"

"Well I would if you and Terra would stay still for a moment." She chided him, unable to work herself into a stern expression so choosing to smile wistfully instead. "You haven't stopped moving since you woke up. And it's me who has to clean up after you," they both fell silent when they thought of the vase that had been smashed the day before last because Ven hadn't been able to keep control of his Keyblade. It was a slightly sore point because Master Eraqus had been quite fond of that particular vase.

"I'm still sorry about that…" he said, wincing contritely and looking at the floor.

"It's all right." She shook her head, tucking her hair back. It had grown quite a bit; she really needed a haircut… Terra had tried to cut her hair when they were kids, and it had taken forever to fix the mess he had made. "When did he say lunch was going to be?"

"In ten minutes, that's why I came to get you," he bounced back to his usual, hyper self with a gin. Hands balled into fists, bouncing from foot to foot as though psyching himself up for a marathon. "You coming or what?"

Aqua rolled her eyes and shook her head, resigning herself to lunch with the boys. They were probably planning to chain her to the floor and force feed her if she refused; they didn't like the fact she was good at taking care of and worrying about everyone but herself. A break from filing would be very nice right now…

"Okay,"

"Race ya!" Ven tensed, ready for flight.

Aqua made a show of inspecting her nails nonchalantly before charging at him. Ven yelped and dived out of her way before shaking a fist after her as she ran across the hall.

"Catch me if you can!"

"Hey! That's cheating!"

They chased each other all the way to the furthest wing where the kitchen was, laughing every step of the way. It felt good to let go and behave as though nothing had happened – as if the Mark of Mastery was still looming in the obscure future and they had never heard of the Unversed, or the Heartless. Lunch was really good; just a plain, good old-fashioned soup made with some of the vegetables they had coaxed into growing in the gardens, and laced with chicken and Terra's special herbs. The talk was carefree, about everything and nothing – Ven had a spat with Terra because the older boy was teasing him about his apparent lack of skills with his Keyblade at the moment. Aqua sighed and poked the dregs of her soup with a small smile on her face. Knowing Ven, she'd catch him sneaking out to do extra training tonight – he was just out of practise, and overly excited; that was all.

Even though there was still a formidable amount of work to be done, Aqua let the boys convince her into taking the rest of the day off. Rather than set them to training or shifting objects around, they all grabbed a mug of varying hot beverages and collapsed in a heap in the room that was formally known as the 'common room'. Really it was just a living room with big squashy armchairs and a long sofa set before a hearth. The walls were still lacking their prior trappings (a few of the framed paintings were in a box somewhere waiting for them, and a few had just gone astray) but the doodle corner was just as it was; Aqua and Terra's childish scribbles were still just visible from the sofa, though a wooden chest blocked the majority of them. Ven's own scrawling pictures were completely hidden. Aqua remembered how, years ago in another life time, Ven had sat staring at the doodles until Terra handed him a chalk stick and began showing him how they doodled and why they were allowed to on this one section of wall. After that they had had to gently prise the chalk off him as he had gone a bit trigger happy with the exercise, but it had done wonders for his then lacking social skills.

Aqua closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the plentiful scatter cushions, smiling serenely to herself. Terra and Ven were discussing old training sessions and techniques, and Aqua had nodded off to sleep by the time they had drafted an entire new training regime. After that day, she allowed them to make her take it easy; instead of delegating jobs they moved together as a pack and tackled each problem as it arose before them. Instead of systematically working through the chores they just ploughed through whatever was nearest to them at the time.

About a week later they were all sprawled on the floor digging their way underneath a large, old fashioned and rather ugly cabinet when they heard someone calling from down the hall. Ven wriggled his way out first and pelted off to see who it was, while Aqua had to first crawl out and then help Terra get out by grabbing him by the leg and dragging him backward. He scowled at the floor once he was sat upright again and Aqua stifled a giggle.

"Hey!" They both looked up to see Ven framed in the doorway, panting. "King Mickey's here! And he's got someone with him!"

"Who?" Aqua asked, getting to her feet with Terra not far behind. She hurried to the door and followed Ven down the corridor.

"Dunno, he wanted to talk to all of us," Ven began, but they entered the great hall so he kept quiet.

"Hello!" Mickey piped up, waving merrily at them. He was the same as ever, dressed in red and black, though his smile was somewhat troubled today.

Behind him stood a figure wearing a long knitted cardigan-come-jumper with a large hood pulled up over their head. It was a decorated in a Fair Isle pattern with different shades of grey, black and white, and a repeated stylised 'V' shape running up the sleeves in a modulating purple that went from deep plum to delicate lilac with seemingly no set pattern followed. The hem at the bottom was trimmed with a sort of latticework ended in tassels made from black yarn. Grey skinny jeans were visible beneath the cardigan, and boots that came up mid-calf and looked somewhere between hiking shoes and armour; dull silver tinged with amethyst, and a round jewel set into the front of their left shoe.

"King Mickey!" Aqua raised a hand in greeting and hastened to his side, Ven trailing at her elbow and Terra following at a more sedate pace.

"How's it goin'?" Mickey asked, smiling at Ven and Terra.

"Great!" Ven grinned, pumping the air with his fist. "What about you?"

"Oh, ya know…" Mickey looked over his shoulder at the person behind him.

They shifted, toes scuffing against a large Bergen bag that was covered in badges, key rings, and fabric patches sewn on with varying degrees of skill. Beside that was a large satchel also covered in badges, and a smaller one made from canvas and clutched tightly in the person's hands.

"Who is this?" Aqua asked, gesturing at them.

Ven cocked his head to one side, staring curiously at the person. They visibly took a half step back, as though recoiling from the attention.

"This is Melanie." Mickey said, gesturing to her again. "I found her in the Lanes Between. Master Yen Sid suggested I bring her here to you because she can use a Key Blade."

Aqua blinked, struck dumb by the unexpected arrival of a new apprentice. Luckily Terra stepped forward in the ensuing silence and said, "Where is she from?"

"Gosh, I'm not sure. It sounds like a long way away from here, though." He looked over his shoulder at her, concerned. "Melanie, these are my friends I told you about! They're Keyblade warriors too."

Melanie raised her head slightly, and Aqua could just make out the face of a teenaged girl in the shadow, and she looked nervous. Two ringlets of dirty blonde hair were hanging from the hood, and she imagined they were framing the girl's face.

"I hope I'm not putting you to any trouble bringing her here…" Mickey said sheepishly.

"Oh, no of course not!" Aqua assured him. "We'll be happy to have her stay with us."

Ven was leaning side-to-side, and stretching up and down as though trying to get a better view of Melanie's face. Terra playfully smacked him on the head and pushed him out of the way. "Hello, Melanie." He said comfortingly. She looked at him, squinting through the shadow of hair and hood. "I'm Terra. This is Aqua, and Ventus."

"Call me Ven!" he insisted brightly, still grinning despite the painful lump on his head he was now nursing.

"Whelp, I need to get going. I'll be back soon to check on you all for Master Yen Sid. I _am_ sorry about this such short notice."

"Really, it's fine. We'll take good care of her," Aqua insisted. She saw Mickey out and bade him farewell, before she came back to find Ven heaving the Bergen onto his back and Melanie holding tightly onto the two satchels. The smaller canvas one she kept close against her hip, and carried it with the same care you would a baby. "Where's Terra?" Aqua asked, helping Ven with a wayward strap and arranging it on his shoulders.

"Gone to fix a room up." He said, then turned to Melanie. "You'll have to tell us what you like to eat,"

Melanie was looking at the floor again, shrouded by the hood. Aqua sent her heart out to the poor girl; she looked in poor shape, and completely out of her comfort zone.

"That's okay," she said evenly, chivvying Ven along. "You can tell us once you've had a rest. Would you like to wash?"

For a moment she thought Melanie wouldn't respond, but she nodded her head twice. Aqua led them all to the dormitories, and found the spare room Terra was hastily kitting out; it was next to her own, with Ven and Terra's rooms on the other side of the corridor. In theory Aqua should have moved to the Master's Chamber, but she still wasn't quite used to the idea of being _the master_, so she chose to stay in her old room for the time being.

"Here," Terra showed them in, and Ven dumped the bag at the foot of the bed. "Careful with that!" he smacked Ven round the back of the head.

"_You_ try carrying it! That thing's heavy,"

"Ignore those two," Aqua said, gently taking the larger satchel from Melanie and placing it on the cream coloured duvet that had been placed on the bed. Terra had found a spare blanket dyed in sunset reds and oranges, and it was lying in a messy pile on the pillow. Carefully she unfolded it and spread it over the bed, smoothing the sides down. "You two can go now," she said firmly as Ven took a swipe at Terra. "Go get dinner started,"

"It's way too early for dinner!" Ven complained. He kept shooting curious glances at Melanie, who was staring out the window; one hand placed on the little canvas bag, the other tentatively feeling the pastel yellow curtains with wonder.

"What shall we have?" Terra said loudly over him.

They all turned to look at Melanie, who jumped when she realised she was the centre of attention. She cast around for something to say, and then in a small voice said, "Pasta."

"Okay," Terra smiled warmly at her, and she seemed to shrink back unexpectedly. "I can do that. Do you want anything with it?"

"Cheese…" she said. "And ham."

"Alright, we'll go get it started. Ven, c'mon." Terra made to leave, and then grabbed Ven by the arm.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!"

The door swung shut with a decisive click, and Aqua laughed. "Don't mind those two, they always argue." She assured Melanie. The girl took a step towards her, and looked up. The sunlight coming through the window reflected off her eyes, and Aqua could see they were a vivid green. "Do you need anything? Clothes, towels, soap?"

"I have clothes." She said in her small, timid voice as though she were expecting to be beaten. "Could I have some shampoo?"

"Of course, follow me." Aqua took her to the communal bathroom at the end of the hall. It had a huge bath sunken into the floor, and a nice big shower with a two-tier rack for everyone's lotions and potions. In the corner adjacent to the sink was a cupboard where all the soaps, shampoos and conditioners were kept; and opposite was the airing cupboard full of nice, warm and fluffy towels. Aqua showed Melanie the stores, and she tentatively picked out a few items, and accepted the pile of towels without comment. She wanted to go back to her room before bathing, and Aqua showed her the way; Melanie didn't ask her to leave, so she stayed while the younger girl sorted out the top layer of things in her big bag.

Everything was placed in separate bags with straps and buckles designed to squash everything down as small as possible. Each one was a slightly different size, style, shape and colour, as though she had collected the contents piece-by-piece over time, rather than starting out with a full kit. She took some clean clothes from one of the bags, and then pulled out other items such as deodorant, a battered looking hairbrush, and a cherry coloured cosmetics bag that turned out to house a medical kit. Aqua was shocked when Melanie sat down and pulled the sleeve of her cardigan up, revealing a nasty looking cut that was badly bandaged.

"Let me see," she said soothingly, taking Melanie's arm and inspecting the wound. It was deep, but not threateningly so; it had been hastily treated, as if she had been tending it when Mickey found her and she had rushed to finish. The binding had started to come undone, and fresh blood was welling up and staining it a gruesome red. "What happened to you?"

"I was running from a Heartless." She said quietly, looking at her arm in a seemingly dispassionate manner. "I didn't want to fight it. I fell down a gorge and scraped my arm. I escaped into the Lanes Between, and King Mickey found me."

"I'll put a dressing on this, then we can redo properly it after you've washed." Aqua said, delving into the first aid kit and pulling out fresh bandages. It was surprisingly well stocked, and arranged in an orderly manner. Everything about this girl from her clothes to her luggage seemed to scream miscellany, as though she had just picked up random items as she went, but as Aqua looked more closely under the pretext of checking the bag for medical supplies, she realised Melanie was quite the experienced traveller with a far reaching level of foresight. The strapped bags were all placed in several larger waterproof liners, with electrical items kept separate from clothing, camping equipment apart from food, and several water canisters kept within easy reach along with the medical bag. Clearly, she knew what she was doing, and even more obvious was the fact she had been doing it for a long time.

"So," Aqua said, carefully cleaning the wound out with some antiseptic that made Melanie draw breath, but bear the stinging with dignity. Aqua smiled – Ven would probably hit the roof if he used this stuff. It smelled quite strong. "Where are you from?"

Melanie took a while to respond. "Dragon Springs." She said eventually.

Aqua nodded; she'd never heard of such a place. "Sounds far away. How long have you been away from home?"

"Eleven years." She reply came more swiftly than expected.

Aqua paused in the act of wrapping a bandage around Melanie's arm. "That's a long time," she said finally. "Why did you leave?"

"My home was attacked by a Heartless. I was told if that happened I had to leave. I don't know what happened after that…"

For a moment Aqua thought the girl would burst into tears, but Melanie regained her composure. She looked up at Aqua, who met her gaze steadily. From this angle, she could see more of the girl's face; fair skin, high cheekbones, dark blonde hair made greasy from prolonged travel…eyes like green flames the way they stood out in the shadow of her hood. She didn't look afraid anymore – but intensely curious. The same look Ven got when he was dying to ask a question.

"You're Keyblade Bearer?" she asked.

"Yes, I am." Aqua smiled, but the girl's next words shocked her.

"You're a Keyblade Master." She stated rather than asked.

Aqua took a moment to recover before saying, "Yes, technically."

As if that wasn't enough, what Melanie went on to say stunned her even more. "You feel the same as my grandfather. He was a Master too."

"And what was his name?"

"Marick."

Aqua careful started cataloguing in her head information she needed to research, this Marick being at the top of her list. Carefully, she finished wrapping the wound, and led Melanie to the bathroom again. As she stepped over the threshold, the girl stopped and turned to look at her.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "For letting me stay here. And…for my arm," she gestured at her newly bandaged arm.

"That's alright," Aqua said warmly. "There's a few things I need to do, and I'll go check on the guys before I come back for you. If you need anything just call, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded.

XOXOX

Terra was just setting food on the table when Aqua came back with Melanie. She had dropped the knitted coat with the hood, and was wearing fresh trousers with the dulled boots she had worn earlier. Now she was clad in a ratty looking purple tie-dye tank top under a dark green button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows. Her left arm was bound tightly in a bandage and moved stiffly; she wore three bracelets on her right wrist, and one on her left alongside a battered looking watch with a leather brown strap that had seen better days. This one was made of round beads that looked like a type of crystal, while the others were a mixture of macramé, a chain with small charms, and a friendship bracelet made from red and yellow threads. Her nails were painted in a bright fuchsia that had chipped here and there, and she wore a silver chain about her neck with a small wolf pendant hanging from it.

"Order's up!" he said with a smile.

"Smells great, Terra!" Aqua said warmly, gracefully sitting down at her usual place.

Ven threw some plates and cutlery down before jumping into his own seat. Terra gestured for Melanie to sit down before him, and she tentatively took the chair beside Aqua. Terra had thrown a few herbs into the mix, and had ended up making a pasta bake instead, but the light in her eyes flared as Aqua heaped food onto Melanie's plate – poor girl looked starving. Her hair was still damp, and tied back in a loose pony tail that covered her ears and the side of her face; two locks of hair, one either side of her face hung freely and had started curling into cork screws. Her hair was dark blonde, and now that she wasn't wearing a hood he could see her bright green eyes that seemed to absorb and reflect the light from her surroundings. She was a curious little thing, but Terra made a point of not staring at her; she seemed somewhat unnerved still.

Aqua tried to coax her into talking, and Ven enthusiastically joined in while Terra just listened. Melanie's voice was small and quiet, probably because she was uncomfortable and unfamiliar with them and her new surroundings. She spoke very little, and instead listened to Ven rabbit on about life here and about his two friends. Terra noted with satisfaction that at first all she focused on was the food, and once she had moved onto seconds appeared to be enjoying and savouring the taste, now that her hunger was sated.

From the little Ven managed to coax out of her, they discovered the name of the town she had grown up in – Dragon Springs – and she had a late grandfather named Marick who was a Keyblade Master. She had been on the run from Heartless on and off for eleven years, and had no idea where or what her family were doing now. All that they got from her was that she had a little brother, and a cousin who seemed to have lived with them. She briefly mentioned a mother, as well as her grandfather – absolutely nothing about a father.

After dinner Ven and Terra washed up while Aqua spoke to Melanie about the following day. "If you want you can unpack, and get settled in. We're still busy sorting things out because we recently moved back in."

She nodded.

"Then, once we're back on form we'll all start training properly again. And you can join us, if you want."

"But she has to, doesn't she?" Ven asked, wiping the bake dish dry before placing it on the counter top with the plates.

"It's possible to have the gift of the Keyblade and not use it," Aqua told him. "Though it is recommended that you learn to use it properly."

The talk continued in this manner until they had finished clearing up, and Melanie slowly got out of her seat. She stood, poised irresolutely on a question she seemed reluctant to ask. Eventually, she plucked up the courage and said, "I'm tired…may I go to bed?"

Terra cocked his head to one side. Her accent was a bit odd; he couldn't quite place it.

"Of course, you must be exhausted!" Aqua said, reminding Terra of a mother hen settling her feathers over her brood of chicks.

They made it to the door when Melanie stopped, looking at the floor again. Aqua turned to her, and Ven took a few steps towards them, stopping uncertainly. She then looked up at each of them in turn, before focusing on and addressing Aqua. "Thank you, for your kind welcome. I hope I can be of good service and cheer. And…" a soft, warm smile graced her lips. "My friends call me Melody, or Mel."

Ven laughed. "Okay, Mel! Call me Ven,"

She smiled, and nodded, before following Aqua out of the kitchen. Ven had a goofy looking daydream smile, that snapped instantly into a scowl when Terra failed to contain his laughter.

"What?" he snarled, stalking past to grab a glass of water before storming out of the room.

"What's put that goofy little grin on your face?" Terra asked the back of Ven's head, following him down the corridor.

"What are you talking about?" Ven snapped.

"Aww, Ventus!" Terra flung an arm around his friend's shoulder and sighed dramatically. "Is it possible that you _didn't_ notice how undeniably pretty Melanie is?" he wasn't expecting to hit a sore nerve – Ven often had moments where he spaced out and day dreamed and was easily caught unaware. That was just Ventus.

But Terra was surprised when Ven gave him a withering look, squared his shoulders and marched off down the corridor by himself. "She _said_ she's called _Mel_." He said forcefully.

Terra just watched in amazement as Ven stormed off, nearly colliding with Aqua as she rounded a corner. She was startled, and watched perplexedly as Ven disappeared from sight, before turning to Terra. "What happened?"

"I dunno, I was teasing him about Melanie – then he got annoyed with me."

"It's probably best to leave him to cool down. Mel's gone to sleep, she was exhausted."

Terra gave Aqua a sideways glance. "You should probably go to bed, too."

On cue, Aqua yawned widely, and after that it didn't take much to persuade her to head for her room. Before he went to bed himself, Terra went to check on Ven; unsurprisingly he was out training, whacking the daylights out of the wooden targets. He waited for Ven to notice his presence, and for Ven to then deign to respond. Eventually he relented and stopped to look up at Terra.

"What do you want?"

"I came to check on you," Terra said, walking down the slope to Ven's side, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ven shrugged, not meeting his eye.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Terra told him seriously.

"I'm not, I just…" he looked up at the stars that were just starting to appear in the darkening sky. "She looks so vulnerable. I just wanna keep her safe." It wasn't really a good enough or informative excuse, but Terra let it slide

"I know the feeling." Terra clapped him on the back. "Come on, let's go back inside. Aqua wouldn't want us to catch a cold now,"

"What do you think of this?" Ven asked as they went back inside, shutting the door against the night chill. "What it means? Another Keyblade wielder, outta nowhere…"

Terra considered carefully as they walked back to their rooms. "I don't know. But they say things come in threes, right?"

Ven stared at him blankly.

"You, me and Aqua. Sora, Riku and Kairi. Lea's all on his lonesome right now."

Ven laughed. "He's gone back to Radiant Garden, right?"

"Yeah, but Aqua's going to send for them all once we get things sorted out here. Then hopefully we'll all train together at some point."

"But they won't live here with us, right?" Ven put in, watching the starry sky through the windows on their left.

"No, but they'll drop by every so often. Last I heard Chip and Dale are building them their own gummi ship."

"Cool!" Ven bounced in a lively manner at the thought. "We could go on trips together – it'd be fun!"

"Night Ven," Terra said, ruffling his hair. "See you in the morning."

"G'night Terra!" Ven waved, poised on the threshold of his room.

Terra took a moment to really take him in – the Ventus that had once watched him battle his way through the Keyblade exams had been younger, smaller, leaner, and somewhat naïve. The Ventus that stood before him was much taller, more filled out across the chest and shoulders, and though he kept that air of innocent naivety he had always carried, there was something deeper in his eyes; a sense of world weariness, as though he'd seen far more than he dared to let on.

"Something wrong?"

Terra blinked. "Nah, just thinking."

Ven laughed, closing his eyes and throwing his head back, putting his heart into it. "You're weird, Terra!"

"I think I can safely say, not as weird as _you_!"

XOXOX

"Morning!" Ven called as he walked into the kitchen.

Terra yawned sleepily, stirring a pot of porridge. "Mornin'…"

Ven grinned at Mel who was perched on a stool next to the counter, slowly eating a bowl of cereal. She was wearing the same clothes as last night, and her little canvas satchel was securely wedged between her knees. She smiled tentatively back and hurriedly looked down at her bowl again.

"Where's Aqua?" Ven asked grabbing a bowl and a spoon before hovering at Terra's elbow.

"Been up since the crack of dawn sorting books." Terra yawned again. Apparently, he hadn't slept well that night. He could be such a grouch when he didn't get enough sleep… "She'll probably get us to help move them later."

They eat in companionable silence; Mel washed up her bowl and left to most probably unpack, and Aqua returned to enlist their help with moving boxes of books and scrolls around, just as Terra had predicted. Most of them went into the library, while a few went into the Master's study where they would be immediately to hand if needed; the rest went into storage in the loft over the great hall.

At lunchtime Ven went to fetch Mel, and found her sat on the floor surrounded by lots of small miscellaneous items; feathers, rocks, crystals, a few small models of animals, and a deck of cards emblazoned with different symbols and animals spread in an arc. She jumped when Ven knocked, sticking his head round the door.

"Lunch is ready!"

"O- okay," she said, hurriedly stuffing the objects back into a large leather pouch tooled with some design he couldn't make out from where he stood. "Sorry about this,"

"It's okay. It's your room now, make as much mess as you like!"

"No," she smiled sheepishly; quickly jotting something down on a notepad before gathering up her cards and shoving them into a silk pouch that was rammed into the leather bag. She stashed this under her pillow before grabbing her canvas bag and standing up. "It's just that, some of the places I've been too they don't exactly…look kindly on what I do."

"What was that, anyway?" Ven asked, trying to catch a glimpse of her pillow. There was a cuddly toy dog sticking out from the other side of it. "Some kind of magic?"

"Yes, sort of…" Mel fiddled with a lock of hair, looking at the floor. "I learnt it from an old shaman. He said I was gifted, and it would work well with what I already had. I guess he meant the Keyblade…"

"Hey," Ven said as they walked down the corridor. "I've got some free time this afternoon. Wanna do some training?"

Mel smiled weakly, clutching the bag close to her chest. "Maybe not today, but thank you."

"No worries!" Ven grinned at her, and she smiled shyly back. She didn't seem quite so skittish today. "So what was it you were doing?"

The skittishness came back instantly.

"You can tell me," he said encouragingly.

"It's…sort of a form of divination."

"What, like predicting the future?"

"Yes and no… It's more like, taking stock of the present and guessing the likelihood of what's going to happen next."

Ven blinked at her, and she caught his expression and bit her lip.

"Sorry…"

"Not sure I get it…and you don't have to apologise! We just don't learn about that sort of thing here. But it sounds really interesting! So how does it work?"

"Huh?" Mel stopped for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. "Oh, it's a bit complicated…I don't know if I can explain it right…"

Ven cocked his head to one side, and smiled at her. "Try! I'm not a great student, but I'll try, too."

This seemed to convince her, because she launched into an explanation about medicine wheels and totem objects, and explained how her tarot cards worked. "I don't use the same deck as other people. My set was given to me, and it's the only one I've ever managed to work with properly. The animals show a lesson or an action, and the symbols show time, date and numbers. I use it to figure out what's going on when I get confused, and how I can best move forward."

"Can you do reading for other people?" Ven asked excitedly. "I had someone do a reading for me once."

"What did they say?" Mel asked, stroking the bag nestled against her hip.

"Something about a lizard, and I think some kind of bird…" he trailed off, struggling to remember. "It was red. And there was a single star, too."

Mel stopped in her tracks and looked up at the ceiling. Ven turned to look at her and felt a small pull of magic energy around her, coming from the sky above. "Lizard: Medicine of Dreams. Phoenix, for resurrection. And a star. I don't know what that means."

Ven blinked again, impressed. "Wow!"

"Did you know what it meant before?" she asked curiously, peering up at him. She was rather petite compared to his stature.

"No, but it does now." He smiled. "Don't worry about it,"

"Okay." She returned his smile.

Sadly, when they reached the kitchen and lunch her talkative mood had passed, and she went back to looking down and eating quietly, only speaking when pestered. Ven was a little disappointed, but he figured she was a bit intimidated by all three of them at once. When they finished eating, Mel made to get up to wash her plate, but Terra put a hand on her shoulder to keep her in her seat and whisked it away before she could protest.

"Ven," Aqua said, grabbing a dishcloth. "Why don't you show Mel around? Show her the grounds and the training area,"

"Good idea! You up for that?" he asked her.

Mel nodded mutely, wide eyed. "Um…" she said eventually.

"What's up?" Ven asked, concerned.

"Don't you want me to wash up?" she asked in a small voice.

"That's all right, Terra and I can handle it." Aqua assured her.

So Ven lead Mel around the castle, pointing at various rooms and pieces of furniture and telling their story. Then he showed her the grounds and the training areas on the sloping sides of the mountain. She seemed much more interested in the outdoors, and delighted in the flowers that grew all over the place, particularly in and around the stream.

"So you train here?" she asked, looking down at the practise rings from above on the slope.

"Yup! Wanna have a go?" he grinned, and sagged slightly when she gave him a startled look. "It's okay, you don't have to."

"I don't want to practise holding this," she drummed her fingers gently on the bag at her side.

"We could put it down? Or I could hold it for you?" Ven offered.

Mel's hands wrapped around it instinctively and pulled it closer to her chest. Clearly, she didn't trust him.

"No? Okay, that's fine. We can always practise some other time," he was itching to practise himself, but he couldn't just ditch Mel. "So, where'd you like to go next?"

Mel looked shocked at being asked her opinion, but Ven waited for her make a decision anyway. Eventually she said, "Could we go back to the flower garden…?"

"Sure!"

Over the next week, slowly Mel became more talkative and began opening up. When she had gotten used to them all she started speaking more at meal times, and quite happily gave demonstrations of her card reading abilities. Terra grilled her for more information about shamanism, which at first made her clam up in an instant, but Aqua slowly coaxed her back out again, and started cross referencing everything Mel told her with the books they had inherited from Master Eraqus. Lots of things they had no records of, but a few – especially concerning magic – were backed up by the books.

Ven found Mel intensely fascinating; she was quiet, often absorbed in her own world, gazing out of a window at the cloudscapes or staring intently at a flower's petals as if she could hear it speaking, but she also contained a quiet humour that was more apparent when they were making jokes with each other. One evening Ven and Terra were bickering and started calling each other names; while Aqua sighed and rolled her eyes despairingly, Mel giggled quietly to herself, stifling a smile and suggesting a few witty alternatives. She was incredibly bright, and seemed to catch a lot more than Ven initially thought. Terra and Aqua were discussing the inevitable arrival of a gummi ship, whether manned by Sora and Riku or Donald, and when Ven turned to explain more fully to Mel she recalled everything Aqua had said about gummi ships perfectly, and in her own words as opposed to just parroting the information she had heard.

Finally, when the castle was in order, they started training and sparring properly again. Ven threw himself into it straight away, and had loads of fun fighting Terra. Aqua threw her blade in too, though she also did a lot of refereeing as their official Master. None of them called her by her sanctioned title – it would have been just plain weird, though Mel did a couple of times by accident. Aqua insisted on being called by just her name, so Mel complied.

The first surprise came when they settled in for their first formal training session together as a group. They summoned their keyblades, each in their own unique way as they always had done. Mel raised her arms and spread them out either side, and both hands glowed before each receiving a keyblade. Ven remembered dimly that Sora had sometimes gained this ability under the right circumstances, but he'd never known someone to do it naturally at will without restriction. One was purple and green, with a somewhat musical theme that resembled a harp and flute; the other long and straight, with a series of seven circles going along the shaft, starting in red from the grip and ending in violet at the base of the blade end that curved into a circular hook, with orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo in-between.

When Aqua asked if she could fight with just one, she shook her head and said apologetically, "I can't make the other one go away." So instead they worked around it; Mel would go through drills and sequences, taking it out on the practise rings and watching closely as the other three fought each other, before Aqua nudged her into the fray as well.

Mel was hesitant, and even though Ven went easy on her she was still a push over. A few sessions went on in this manner until Terra took her aside and gave her a little pep talk.

"I hope she's okay," Ven said to Aqua, stamping his feet and jumping on the spot to keep warm. The season was changing and it was getting markedly chillier in the evenings.

"Well, I think she's been through a lot." Aqua said evenly, perceptive as always. "And it's probably strange for her to be living here with us since she's always been on the move before. That, and she probably hasn't had much keyblade training, let alone with other keyblade wielders."

"Hmm," Ven nodded. Her fighting style did lack a lot in the aggression department… her defence, on the other hand, was absolutely flawless.

"Okay?" Terra led Mel back to the circle they had drawn out for the sparring area. "Go get'em, tiger." He said, ruffling her hair.

Mel smiled back and took up the ready position in the circle. Ven followed suit, and Aqua called for the start of the match. At first, he didn't notice any difference in her strategy until he pushed forwards into her defence. Instead of retreating, she pushed forwards as well, at an angle that deflected his attack off her side, and jabbed at him using her left arm with an attack that could have unbalanced him if she had followed through.

"Good!" Terra called. "Do it again! But this time follow it through,"

Bit by bit, Mel became more aggressive and less prone to retreating. Ven was amazed when she finally managed to knock him off his feet with a well-placed blow. However, she was so surprised herself that her grip slackened and their keyblades locked together, which gave him leverage to pull her down with him. Despite her slow progress, Mel showed real improvement after only four days, and Ven felt his own progress keenly.

About two and a half weeks after Mel had first arrived they were gathered in the common room after dinner. Terra was laid out of the sofa, clutching a cushion to his head and groaning softly periodically. He hadn't looked particularly well earlier, and he seemed to be getting worse. Aqua had given him some painkillers for his developing headache and was curled up on one of the comfy chairs with a book of old violin music. She had found her beloved instrument in the loft and was currently hunting round for spare strings. As she slowly went over the music in her head, sometimes humming the tune out loud, Ven and Mel were sat on the floor by the fire going over some of her items.

Mel owned a set of knucklebones, eligibly from a dragon though she thought they had most likely come from a huge species of lizard that lived on a small island somewhere far away. Ven found the crystals fascinating, and she had even given him a few; apparently she picked up tokens from places she had been to, only to leave them elsewhere for someone else to pick up and use for themselves. The 'way of the shaman' sounded just as complicated as a Keyblade Warrior. Her little canvas bag was nestled in the circle of her lap, the flap open to reveal its contents.

Ven had asked quite innocently what was inside a few days after she had arrived, and Mel had clammed up, and refused to show them. Then, two days ago she had brought it to Aqua and asked if she knew what it was – having been finally defeated by her lack of knowledge. The object was a large tear shaped stone of something that looked like slate coloured marble, and was as hard as diamonds. They knew this because Mel had tripped on the stairs, and it had fallen all they way down and into the entrance hall with an all mighty clatter that had brought everyone running. Terrified, Mel had rushed to see if there was any damage from its traumatic fall – not even a hint of a scuff or scratch. Aqua had been researching Mel's branch of magic, and also tried to discover what the stone was. She hadn't found out yet, but she was still looking; a few possibilities included an inactive summon gem, a store stone for pooling magic energy needed at a later date, or just simply a pretty, shiny rock.

Ven had held the stone the day before, and in the sunlight there was an almost oily sheen, like rainbow colours on a puddle. And despite it's apparent greyness, Mel insisted it was purple. She explained that she argued with a lot of people over colours because she apparently possessed a very high colour perception. That didn't make much sense to Ven until Terra explained that it meant Mel had more of the cone and rod shaped structures in her eyes that allowed you to see colour than other people did. Surreptitiously holding the stone at certain angles to the light, and angling his body in a certain way, Ven could almost catch this purple hue that seemed to elude the rest of them.

Right now, it was nestled safely in Mel's lap as she poured over the cards Ven had drawn. It was very beautiful, but he failed to see what drew her and attached her to it so. But then, most people wouldn't understand why Ven had treasured his wooden practise keyblade; the one Terra had given him. This stone had come to Mel through someone she had met just before coming here, someone she had known for a while and had looked up to. Clearly, it was a reminder of that person that she cherished. Still, he couldn't quite shake the feeling there was something else to it…

"Nnngh…" Terra groaned into the quiet.

"Is he okay?" Mel asked anxiously, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Probably. Terra's a big baby when he gets sick," Ven teased, and wilted when he didn't get the desired response; Terra didn't rally to the insult at all.

Aqua stood up and placed a hand on his forehead, frowning. "He's got a bit of a temperature…"

"I think I have something for that," Mel sat up straighter, looking uncertain.

"My head hurts, and…" Terra shifted uncomfortably on the sofa.

Mel got to her feet and placed a hand on his forehead, and her other on his shoulder. "Hmm…" she considered him carefully before removing her hands and then tracing lines across his body. Ven watched with interest, feeling again the glow of magic about her. "I think I see what the problem is."

"You do?" Ven asked, amazed.

"What would you recommend?" Aqua asked.

"It's pretty simple, but complicated…" Mel was thinking deeply, eyes far away. She seemed to say odd and contradictory things a lot, but Ven was getting used to that – she had a unique way of viewing things.

"Can I get anything to help?" Aqua ventured.

Mel blinked and looked up at her, confused. Then she said, "Could you get two glasses of water, please?"

Once she had the glasses, she placed them on the table and then proceeded to pull yet more items from her leather pouch. It was tooled with the repeated design of arum lilies, and contained an astonishing amount of objects for its size. This time she fished out a small ceramic bowl, and another pouch full of dried herbs; she set these aside and drew out a simple flint before mixing the herbs together in the dish and gently lighting them. She placed the bowl on the floor by the sofa and smudged her fingers in the ashes before tracing a line over Terra's face. Then she went and stood by his head, placing her hands either side of his face and looking down his body to his feet.

"He needs clearing, but I'm only going to do one channel."

"Huh?" Ven blinked. "I don't get it."

Mel shook herself, and smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Everyone has twelve energy meridians – some people call them 'Chi Channels', 'Energy Channels', but really they are all the same thing, just with different names. And there are seven energy points that run along the body down the spinal cord. Sometimes when you get sick the energy in your body is unbalanced, or flowing the wrong way. And sometimes you feel sick because your emotions have influenced the energy flow."

"You mean like…magic?"

"Not exactly…"

Ven didn't understand, and told her so. "I don't get it. So what you're doing is _not_ magic?"

"No, it's manipulation of energy – the base principle is the same, but the application is really different. Its like…energy flows the wrong way, or becomes stagnant, and that can affect your body and your organs. All emotions are felt physically because of hormones in the blood stream, and those hormones are influenced by the function of the organs. If one is off balance, eventually it can upset the rest of the body. It's kinda like how…ah! When you're sick, and you throw up – the food is going the wrong direction to what it should be, and it throws you off balance."

"Oh! Okay, that I get. So…what are you gonna do to Terra?" Ven asked, poking him in the knee. Terra made a halfhearted swipe at him, missing by miles. "Gees, he must really be sick!" that made Ven worry.

"If we didn't do anything he'd develop a bug and be sick for a few days, but I _can_ do something." Mel tapped his forehead, before leaning her own forward to touch the crown of Terra's head. There weren't any dancing lights of bursts of radiance like when you cast a curative spell, but Ven could feel the tug in the air that denoted a draw on magic.

"Here," Aqua had grabbed some of their own medicines from the box in the kitchen cupboard, and began sorting through them to find something to bring down Terra's temperature.

Ven watched as Mel slowly stood and traced with her ash-smudged fingers lines across Terra's body. He didn't pass any comment; in fact Terra appeared to fall asleep almost instantly. After nearly half an hour Mel sat down cross-legged with her back against the sofa, and took a long draft from one of the glasses. She looked up at Ven's anxious expression and smiled.

"He'll be okay now, he needs to sleep it off and drink some water. A lot of people go to sleep when I do a healing."

"So Terra's better now?" Ven asked, poking him in the knee.

"Some of his energy was snarled up so I moved it back, and I cleared the channel that was causing the most unbalance. When you do a clearing the body needs to adjust to the change, and that means it needs to detoxify itself. He'll feel rough tonight, but he should be fine by midday tomorrow."

True to her word, Terra roused himself a few minutes later and staggered off to bed after chugging the proffered glass of water. Aqua followed not long after, still humming violin music to herself. When Mel and Ven packed up and headed after them, he said, "Thanks for healing Terra."

"Don't mention it. It's the least I could do since, you've taken me in,"

Ven smiled and shook his head. She was incredibly polite and thankful, and seemed like the sort of person who'd apologise for getting hit in the face. "No worries," he said instead. "I'll see you in the morning!"

"Good night, Ven." She smiled her small, warm smile before sliding into her room and quietly closing the door behind her.

XOXOX


	2. The Leather Bound Book

**AN: Hey! If you can leave a review with any thoughts/suggestions/criticisms/feelings you have, I'd really appreciate it because I want to know what you think :) **

_**The Leather Bound Book **_

It took a couple of days for Mel to complete Terra's 'treatment', and he seemed much better for it. In fact, the day after Mel had pronounced him cleared and balanced, Terra was found chasing Ven through the castle, laughing and yelling at each other in great high spirits. Aqua couldn't remember the last time he had been as hyper as Ven; it made her laugh. Mel shrugged and smiled vaguely, saying it just happens that way.

"He's brighter than I've seen him for a long time." Aqua commented before lunch, deftly scooping a box out of the way before Ven went ploughing through.

"I think he was dwelling a bit too much."

Aqua stopped to look more closely at Mel, but she was leaning against the windowsill and staring up at the sky. "What makes you say that?"

Mel considered her words very carefully before she spoke. "It's a really nice atmosphere here, but…it feels a bit melancholy at times. Like something happened that this place hasn't quite come to terms with. She looked down at the rolling hills in the distance, and watched the progression of a far off bird flying in a great arc. "Terra's carrying a burden that he's slowly resolving inside. I can see that in his aura. And…" she bit her lip and glanced swiftly at Aqua before going back to the bird outside. "It feels like everyone here's had something to contend with emotionally…"

Aqua dumped the box on a table and went to stand beside Mel. She tensed, as though expecting a reprimand, but Aqua ruffled her hair and chuckled. "You're very perceptive, aren't you?"

"Well, not everyone is good at hiding what's in their aura – or the electromagnetic field around their body's, as some people call it. And some people are sensitive to it, those fluctuations. I probably shouldn't be commenting on it, it's not my place…"

"Don't worry. We've all been through a lot, collectively. We were separated for a long time, but now we're back together, and to us that's all that matters."

Mel cocked her head to one side, eyes bright with curiosity. "Ven said we were going somewhere this week."

"Ah, you heard? We've got some friends in another world, who train heroes. We haven't seen them in a long time, and I thought we could get you some additional training at the same time. I'm sure Ven would love it, too. I can't keep up with him at the moment!"

"Sounds fun,"

"I was going to tell you at lunch. We'll be going on Saturday, so we can get most of the chores done before hand." They had also established that Wednesday afternoons were work out time, Friday morning sparring, and weekends were lazy days in which Ven had vowed to train extra hard – so naturally last week Aqua had found him face down in a book fast asleep tucked up in bed. "Oh, and we have some friends who will be visiting the world too, the other keyblade wielders I told you about."

"Sora, Riku…?" Mel struggled to remember, looking at the clouds again. "And…"

"Kairi."

"Very elemental."

Aqua stopped to ponder this. "How so?"

"Sora and Ventus mean sky and wind. Riku means continent and Terra means earth. I think Kairi means ocean, and Aqua is a word for water." Mel had a sharp mind within that soft exterior.

"I guess so. So where does that put you?" Aqua said teasingly, startling her.

"Huh? Oh- um…" she cast around wildly for something to say.

Aqua laughed and patted her head. "I guess you can be the music that ties them together!"

They had discovered Mel had a musical talent, and last night she and Aqua had stayed up late playing together; Aqua on her newly strung violin, and Mel on Master Eraqus' piano they had dragged out of a storage room. She smiled sheepishly up at Aqua before shaking her head.

"I'm not that great…"

"Give it time, and you'll fit in here with us like a glove!"

After lunch they spent an hour trying to retrieve a coin token from under a large cabinet. Ven had accidentally dropped it while aiming a swipe at Terra, and they were hell bent on getting it back; it had been Master Eraqus', and as silly as it may sound, they wanted to recover it to help keep that connection to him strong. Terra had a torch, which he shone into the black void beneath the cabinet, and Mel as the smallest was scrabbling around underneath trying to reach it. The floorboards were uneven by the wall, so it kept sliding around in and out of reach. Aqua was worried she was going to get stuck, but Ven hovered by her side ready to pull her out if she got into distress.

"Got it!" she said at last, half hidden from sight beneath the cabinet, something clinking in the small space.

"Great!"

"You need a hand getting out?" Terra asked, sticking his head under to try and see her.

"I'm good, thanks." She said, wriggling backwards slowly.

Something behind them made a terrific _crack_, and they all jumped. Terra cursed as his head collided with the underside of the cabinet, and Mel yelped from her trapped position. Aqua and Ven searched the room, but they couldn't find the source of the noise, and they didn't hear it again. Terra suggested it was the building's structure settling, though Aqua doubted this since she had never heard a sound quite like that before, and she had grown up within these halls.

"Well you _did_ turn it into Castle Oblivion," Terra reminded her as they left the room, trailed by a sniggering Ven and Mel with her little canvas satchel and her curious stone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped at Terra, getting annoyed when he laughed at her.

"Maybe the castle didn't agree with it?" Terra said innocently, grinning at her.

Ven fell about laughing at this point and she rounded on him, losing her 'Master' air completely. "Oh shut up, Ven! It's not even funny!"

"Then why is your face all red?" he pointed out slyly, dodging out of the way before she could physically retaliate.

"You know what, Melody?" she said loudly, throwing an arm around the girl and leading her away from the two boys, now guffawing and hanging onto each other for support. "It's a relief to have another female presence in this place. Promise you'll never leave?"

"Should I chain myself to the doors?" her wide-eyed expression soon cracked into a smile as Aqua laughed.

"Just promise wherever you go, you'll always come back."

"I promise. It's the nicest place I've ever been."

XOXOX

Ven sat on Mel's bed, skimming through a book Terra had lent him; it was about Keyblade Gliders, and he was intensely fascinated with the detailed pictures. Mel had expressed an interest in it, purely from an artistic point of view. She had her own set of armour, but try as she might she couldn't summon a glider of her own, so beyond the attention to detail in the drawings, the book held little interest for her.

Instead, she had been rearranging some of her magic pouches and their contents, and now she was sat on the floor applying a final coat of nail polish to her fingers. Every other day she changed the colour; one day it was pink, the next blue, and a couple of day's later acid green. Ven had been trying to work out the pattern, but apparently there wasn't one.

"Oh, I just chose the first one I pull out of the box. Or I might chose a couple and figure out a pattern." She had explained. It seemed a very 'Mel' way of doing things.

"Hey, what do you think of this one?" Ven leaned over and waved the book in Mel's face. The page he wanted her to look at was filled with a sketch of a really cool looking Glider – it looked like a huge bat shaped speeder in charcoal black and faded grey, accentuated with royal purple along the wing like structures.

"Oh, cool!" Mel took the book and stared at the Glider enviously. "Can you imagine turning up to a battle on that thing? I'd run for cover! And look at the insignia," she said, pointing with a purple fingernail at the symbol on the front of the Glider. "It looks like the old symbol for Fire Warrior."

"The what…?" Ven laid flat on his stomach and looked over Mel's shoulder at the picture.

"My grandfather told me this old story about four warriors, one for each of the elements. It's probably a fable warped from the original, like most fairy tales…but apparently each warrior had command of a particular being. Like, there was a water phoenix, and-"

"_Water_ phoenix?" that didn't make much sense…

"Yeah, it was a bit unconventional." Mel said, tracing the outline of the Glider with a finger. "I thought he was making it up, but there was this tapestry he showed me and it depicted almost everything he'd told me about the four warriors. The other two were an earth unicorn and a cat-of-the-air – I don't quite remember the actual name…but the tapestry was torn and a section was missing, so I don't know what the fire animal was supposed to be. My grandfather _said_ it was a wyvern, but no one really knows for certain."

"Wow! I've never heard of that legend before." Ven wondered why. "How come you know all this stuff and we don't?"

"I've been world hopping for years, and there are as many worlds as there are stars in the sky – probably even more. It's impossible for any one person to know even half of the information out there. I know loads that you three don't, but on the other hand you all know so much more than I do,"

Ven nodded to himself. "Okay, that's fair enough."

"But that's beautiful," she went on, stroking the page. "I wish _I_ could summon a hover…"

"Maybe if you keep practising you will one day! Sora keeps pestering me about it whenever I see him. But, they're gonna get a Gummi ship so they can travel around too."

Mel opened her mouth to say something, but there was an almighty crack that resounded throughout the room, and they both jumped out of their skins.

"What is it?" she asked, dropping the book and hastily getting to her feet.

"I dunno," Ven slowly made his way around the room, scrutinising everything he came across.

Mel had completely unpacked her Bergen, which was now lying at the bottom of the wardrobe. Her few books and other precious possessions were arranged on the bookshelf, and she had started to disgorge her expansive art works and sketches from her collection around the walls. Ven looked from wooden figurines to lumps of crystal and bundles of feathers. A mummified owl's wing was attached to a rattle wrapped in animal fur was hanging from the door on a clothes hook – it seemed to him the most likely culprit. Carefully Ven poked it, and it rattled softly, the feathers ruffed by the motion, but it didn't make the same sound.

"Maybe its-" Mel began when the crack resounded again.

"It sounded like it came from over there," Ven said, picking his way over to the desk. A small lamp was set there, along with a pile of paper and a small tin pencil case containing pencils, rubbers, a sharpener and several sticks of charcoal. Set carefully beside the lamp was the canvas bag. Ven was just about to give up and admit defeat when the bag wobbled violently, and the flap slid open as the whole thing lurched to one side. "It's coming from the bag!"

"What?" Mel rushed to the desk, ignoring Ven's warnings. She lifted the flap and carefully extracted the stone, holding it high above the table and inspected the inside of the bag. "I don't see thing unusual…" the stone in her hands emitted a colossal sound like a tree being uprooted, and a deep fissure appeared right down the middle.

They both stared at it, dumbstruck.

"Wha…?" Mel lowered the stone, eyes wide. "What's it…?"

Another, softer noise issued from within – almost like a chirrup.

"Is that an…_egg_?" Ven breathed. The thing was nearly as big as his head – what the hell hatched out of something that big?!

"What do I do? I thought it was a rock! What do I _do_?!"

"Okay, stay calm!" Ven said, tying not to panic himself. "Put it in the bag and we'll show Aqua. She'll at least know where to start!"

"Right," she tenderly placed it in the canvas satchel and they tore off to look for their master.

Aqua was in the Master's study, pouring over a world map with Terra. They both jumped when Ven came crashing through the door, panting with exertion. "Ven!" she chastised him, clutching her heart. "What is it? You gave me a heart attack."

"It's hatching!" he shouted at them, waving his arms to get their attention.

"Calm down," Terra said, getting up and patting him on the back. "You're all worked up. So, what's hatching?"

Mel fell through the doorway, panting, clutching her bag as though she were drowning. "You're- too fast- Ven,"

"Her stone, it made that noise earlier! It's cracking open – we think it's an egg! And," he turned to an astonished Aqua. "We don't know what to do!"

"Okay, firstly – Ventus, take a _deep_ breath." She said, moving to Mel's side. "All right, let me see."

They placed the stone, still nestled in the bag, on the table, while Terra went to ransack the bookshelves to see if they had anything in light of this discovery. Aqua watched intently as the stone wobbled and pitched sideways, cracking and fracturing slowly. Every so often it squeaked and cooed, like a baby bird. Ven shuddered to think what sort of bird had laid this thing – they still weren't entirely sure if it _was_ an egg yet, anyway. Terra didn't find anything, so he sat down with them to watch, murmuring, "Maybe its in the loft?"

"We'll look later. We still don't know what this is," Aqua said, raising a hand hesitantly to prod the stone.

There was a sizeable cleft now, splitting it roughly a third of the way across, and it was slowly getting bigger. The chirping had stopped, and then for a time all movement and sound did too, but then it began again with increased vigour. The top section started straining, as though something was pushing it upwards from the inside. Then, without warning the stone gave way and a thin piece like a segment of an eggshell went rocketing into the air, landing on the tabletop by Aqua's elbow. A long, spindly looking leg was sticking up through the gap left in the stone's surface. They all leant forward, holding their breath. Then, with one final shudder, the cracks and gullies across the surface all collapsed at once, and a creature fell tumbling into the mass of broken shell and stone, wailing with surprise and indignation to find itself on its back.

Ven chanced a glance at the others very briefly, and saw their jaws had also hit the floor. It looked like a long limbed, skinny little lizard, but it was covered in a sort of downy fuzz like a new born chick; long fingers of skin and bone stretched out from joints behind it's shoulders, reminding Ven of a baby bird's undeveloped wings. The soft fluffy fuzz extended across most of its body, white over black skin, and ending at its feet and chin. At the end of its length tail were more protrusions, like a set of fins; a fleshy looking sheath covered with the same fuzz. Its head was distinctly reptilian, with two horns above its tiny ears curling back over its head; brilliantly blue eyes stared out of its face over a long snout that had a large tooth like structure pointing up from its nose.

The hatchling thrashed around on its back until it managed to roll onto its side, then it unsteadily stood up and wondered a few steps across the table, completely punch drunk. It squawked loudly, raising its head and zoning in on Mel, before it attempted to jump at her, falling short of its target and crashing into the tabletop with a bang.

"Is…that…?" Terra said slowly, but he didn't finish.

"A baby _dragon_?" Ven asked disbelievingly.

Aqua suddenly slapped her forehead and groaned loudly. "All this time I was looking for _minerals_! It was an egg!"

"I think we gathered that, Aqua," Terra said, reaching a hand towards the baby.

"No wonder we didn't find anything." Aqua said, exasperated with herself. "We were looking up the wrong entries!"

It shrieked and backed away, tripping over its tail and getting tangled up with its wings and tail fin. It squeaked and tried to escape its ensnarement and nearly pitched itself off the table completely. Mel flew like a lighting bolt and caught it just in time, gently arranging it in her arms so it couldn't fall.

"Its okay, Terra's a friend." She said soothingly to it, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to hold a newly hatched dragon.

"What are we gonna do?" Ven asked Aqua, watching the hatchling chirrup happily and attempt to lean up to lick Mel's face. It had a long, purple tongue like a human's, but with a noticeable cleft at the centre of the tip.

"I think we'd better contact Yen Sid." Aqua said decidedly. "I'm sure he'll know something." She then turned to Terra and said, "Could you go get him for me? I think we need to see him in person about this."

"Sure thing. I'll go now,"

"What'll we do?" Ven asked, itching to help.

"I'm going to double check those books we put in the loft. Now we know what the stone was, it should be easier to find the right information. We must have _something_,"

"I'll help you," Ven said.

"I'll try to," Mel said, struggling with the squirming dragon. "I don't think we should leave him on his own."

"Him?" Terra asked striding over and bending down to get a better look. The dragon cooed, head cocking from side to side as though it couldn't quite focus on him. "How do you know?"

"Let me guess," Ven put a hand on her shoulder, and grinned when she smiled at him. "His energy signature?"

"Essentially, yes." She nodded. "He's bursting with Sun Energy."

Terra left to fetch Master Yen Sid, and Ven led the way up to the attic where the rest of the books were in storage. At first he and Aqua sifted through them, periodically checking on Mel and the dragon until he fell asleep in the canvas bag, leaving her free to help. After two hours of heaving boxes around and rifling through battered books, Mel crawled out from underneath a tall pile of junk, heaving a heavy wooden trunk behind her. She walked around it, staring intently at the lock before she pinched the metal in three different places and pulled. The lock came to pieces in her hands and she pushed it aside, manoeuvring the lid out of the way. At this point Ven had come to see what she was doing, and together they lifted another, smaller box from inside the trunk. It was made of thick red wood, and looked very old – it was covered in a thick layer of dust that came away on their hands as they handled it.

"What's that?" Aqua asked, peering over Mel's shoulder.

"I don't know, it just sort of leapt out at me and I couldn't ignored it." She wiped the dust off the lid and squinted at the faded letters there. "I can't read it,"

Neither could Ven or Aqua; instead they opened the lid and found a small herb pouch, several sheaves of paper with faded ink drawings depicting odd looking contraptions, and an incredibly old tome bound in stamped leather and falling to pieces. The leather may have been green once upon a time, but now it was a dirty yellowish brown. Aqua laid the book on top of the trunk and started carefully flicking through the pages while Ven and Mel tried to make sense of the drawings.

"It looks like a saddle or something," he said, turning a sheet upside down to see if it made more sense.

"I think this one looks like a _tree_…" Mel said, tracing the outline of something on another paper.

"Guys," Aqua said slowly, standing up with the book and staring at the open page. "I think we've found what we're looking for," she showed them the page she was looking at; it was right at the front, and it had a beautiful illustration of a full-grown dragon with feathered wings roaring up at the words that made up the title. It was a script that Ven didn't recognise, but he could just about understand the gist of it: _Dragons' KeyBlade_.

XOXOX

"You summoned me?" Yen Sid inquired, stepping into the great hall after Terra.

Aqua sighed with relief. "Yes, thank you for coming on such short notice!"

Ven stood up and bowed politely, and Mel struggled to follow suit – the dragon didn't seem to like the sudden change in altitude and squawked in protest. They had been sat on the steps of the dais, wondering out loud what baby dragons ate, when Terra had returned. After gentle inspection they discovered that the dragon had no teeth, just lilac coloured gums and a thick purple tongue. It's wings kept flapping uselessly at the air, completely out of sync; it's tail was another problem, as it kept clipping things as it swept past, and getting hooked in people's clothes.

"Now then," Yen Sid said calmly, surveying the group and lingering on the dragon. "It is good to see you again Melanie, and in such good health, too."

"Thank you, Sir," she said, bowing low before snapping upright; the dragon didn't like the new angle.

"This is the dragon Terra told me about?"

"Yes," Aqua picked up the book they had found and offered it to him. "And we found this in a trunk in the loft,"

Yen Sid waved it aside for the moment, and held out his arms to Mel. She carefully placed him in Yen Sid's hands, after Ven disengaged the tail from her belt. Yen Sid very carefully examined the dragon, turning him over and studying every minute detail. The dragon complained weakly, but he seemed to have lost his energy now – it must have been exhausting to break out of that egg.

Eventually Yen Sid handed him back to Mel, and then turned to the book. He was silent for a long time while he digested what he was reading, but finally he closed the book and looked up, addressing them all.

"I must admit, I thought the legend of the Dragons Key was a fairy story designed to keep apprentice keyblade wielders in check. Neither myself nor Master Eraqus ever saw merit in relaying to you what little we knew ourselves, so it was never mentioned." He tapped the cover of the moth eaten book. "I have not seen this book before, and I do not know what it contains."

"So what _do_ you know?" Terra asked, watching the dragon struggle weakly to stay awake and active.

"Only that once every few generations there was said to be a Keyblade Master who rode a dragon that took them between the worlds. The like has not been seen outside of myth for nigh on a thousand years. If what I remember is correct, the Keyblade Dragon could be utilised by several different warriors, but only one could call forth its true potential. There are many different worlds with their own native dragons, but generally speaking they will not or cannot cross the multi-verse, and will live and die in the world into which they were born. This one," he gestured at the napping dragon in Mel's arms. "Is unlike any other I have ever seen, from any of the worlds. We cannot be certain this is a dragon of yore, but I would hazard a guess that it is very likely given the circumstances."

"So this dragon is linked to the keyblade?" Aqua asked, her mind racing through the possibilities.

Yen Sid chuckled. "I asked Mickey to bring Melanie to you because I could feel in her a very powerful gift that has as yet gone almost wholly untutored. There is only so much she could learn about the keyblade by herself. That she brought a dragon egg with her merely adds credit to my theory."

"W-what should I do now?" Mel piped up, absently tickling the dragon under the chin as though he were a cat.

"Well, that depends on what Master Aqua thinks is the best course of action." Yen Sid turned to her, and Aqua felt keenly her lack of experience being the authority figure.

"I guess we'll have to keep him and see what happens. But, I'm not sure how much help I can be…"

"Don't say that!" Ven said, looking saddened.

"_We_ have faith in your abilities," Terra said teasingly, bowing with an elaborate flick of the wrist. "_Master_."

Aqua smiled and pulled a face at him. "Well, we have this book, which should give us some clues. The dragon on the inside cover has feathers, and this one looks like he will grow some when he's older."

"He looks like a mutant chicken." Terra said without thinking.

They all laughed, even Master Yen Sid; the dragon woke with a feeble squawk before falling straight back to sleep. Since Mel couldn't read the script in the book, Aqua read it to her, and started making her own notes from the text; Yen Sid leant her a small translation book before he departed, and she set to work straight away. In the mean time, the other three started puzzling over what baby dragons ate; they set up a trial on the kitchen floor while Aqua sat at the table with the book. Terra took different minced meats and grated some vegetables for nutrients and fibre before making up lots of small bowls with different combinations of food. He placed them on the floor, and the newly awakened dragon ambled around on unsteady legs, using its large skeletal wings for balance by propping itself up, sniffing at the different scents in the air. After a little coaxing, and a fake display of eating from Ven (which Aqua didn't approve of, even thought he didn't really eat any of the raw meat) the dragon stuck its muzzle into a bowl of beef and carrots. Apparently, he liked Terra's gourmet cooking so much that he ate too much, cleaning out half the bowls before being violently sick.

Ven helped Mel to clean it up while Aqua held the poor little thing. After that, they tentatively fed him on mashed up meat laced with raw vegetables by hand; afraid he would try to gorge himself again.

"He needs a name," Ven said suddenly as Mel experimented with ground up meat and warm milk.

"That's true," Terra said, deftly picking him up as he tried to take a shower with the water bowl they had put down for him, spraying water everywhere. "Any ideas?"

"George?" Ven suggested.

"Sir George was a dragon slayer," Mel said, offering the new mix to the hatchling.

Aqua tapped her pen against the table, and the dragon whipped around at the noise. He stared at the shiny metal clip like a sparrow caught in the stare of a snake. "Likes shiny things, doesn't he?" she joked.

They wrote a list of names between them, and sat debating them while the dragon fell asleep again after an enormous burp.

"At least he's not hungry!" Ven laughed.

"Better out then in," Terra said sagely.

In the end, Mel said tentatively, "I think these sketches are for dragon saddles." She pushed them across the table and Aqua took a closer look. "They look like something Da Vinci drew."

"Who?" Ven asked.

"He's a famous inventor who travelled between worlds centuries ago." Aqua told him. "He was apparently a really good artist, too."

"I really like his work," Mel said, gently stroking the dragon. "People used to say he was ahead of his time."

"Well, travelling the multi-verse would give you an advantage, but its also called cheating." Terra said.

"My grandfather used to say there's no such thing as cheating – there's rules and then there's creative thinking."

"No one ever listens to rules," Ven bragged, and Aqua rolled her eyes at Terra.

"Every rule is meant to be broken." Mel said seriously. "Including this one."

"Your grandfather sounds cooler every time you mention him," Terra said teasingly.

"Da Vinci…" Ven tried the name out.

"His first name was Leonardo. Leonardo Da Vinci."

"Sounds kinda weird, don't you think?" he pulled a face.

Aqua left the conversation to keep ploughing through the book. She didn't get further than the first chapter, which was admittedly short, but what she learned from it was invaluable. After she had copied up the notes, she called the table to attention.

"Okay, I think I understand what's happened. Basically, the first people the dragon sees are like its family, but it'll bond more easily with the one who had the egg first. I'm guessing that means you, Mel."

"How long did you have the stone for?" Terra asked.

Mel looked at the ceiling. "About…three weeks? The man who let me stay in his house in exchange for doing chores gave it to me. He wasn't afraid of my magic, even though he didn't really understand it. I was very grateful to him for giving me a roof over my head."

Aqua didn't want to press the issue, but she got the strong impression that Mel had been physically abused for her 'strange' branch of magic in the past. In some worlds witches and magic users were feared, whether rightly or wrongly. It had taken some time for Mel to see that they also had magic, and the fact that they also bore keyblades had cemented trust between them quite quickly. Even so, there was a lot they didn't know about her that she wasn't ready to tell.

"A dragon baby is called a hatchling, and then when it's a week old, a chick. I haven't found anything on diet specifically yet, but they are omnivores. I think if we just experiment to see what he'll eat…"

"So…" Ven said, tickling the dragon under his chin. He burbled in his sleep and rolled onto his back, right hind leg twitching. "He's Mel's dragon, then?"

"I think its more a case of I'm his human," Mel said wonderingly.

Aqua laughed. "Probably! Anyway, it looks like he's part of the team now."

The other things Aqua had managed to glean from the book was that one day he'd be big enough and strong enough to ride, and with the sketches they had a good idea of how to make a saddle. But that was a while off still, and Aqua wasn't sure how quickly he would grow. This was new territory for her, as well as the others. She voiced her concern, but Ven waved it away almost instantly with a haughty air.

"It's not like we're going to blame you for getting it wrong. You're just like us! Completely clueless,"

"Well, that might just be you, Ven." Terra slipped in.

"We're all on a journey of discovery together." Mel said, sliding in before the argument could escalate. "We'll learn from each other. And him," she gestured at the sleeping lump.

Much later, when the others had gone to bed, Aqua was staring out of the double doors of the entrance hall, the chill autumnal wind floating by. She felt burdened by the responsibility she now faced. When she had agreed to over see the younger Keyblade wielders, she hadn't felt too worried because she had Ven and Terra to help her, as well as Master Yen Sid. Now faced with the prospect of teaching another new warrior, who had a legendary dragon that even Yen Sid had thought was a myth…now _that_ was daunting. How could she teach and guide them down this road when she had no experience or knowledge to offer? All she had was a musty old book and a trial and error footing.

"Aqua?" Terra appeared from the shadows of the corridor, yawning widely. He came to stand beside her, and looked up at the dark cloudy sky. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm thinking." She said bluntly.

"About…?" he pressed.

Aqua sighed and rubbed her eyes. Thinking was too difficult…

"I'm not sure I can do this…"

"What, exactly?"

"Be a Master. How can I teach about something I don't even understand myself? I wish Master Eraqus was here, he always seemed to know what to do," after she had been taken to the Land of Departure to train with a Keyblade, Eraqus had been like a father to her – and father's were notorious for possessing the ability to fix problems. She still had that childlike ideal of him in her head.

"Well, he can't be here with us now." Terra said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze. "You're in charge. And you're on the same plane as us – we don't know anything either. Just like Mel said, we'll discover it together. We don't expect you to have all the answers. Master Eraqus didn't have all the answers either. We'll be fine, as long as we stick together. Right?"

Aqua looked at the ground, and felt tears welling up in her eyes. Between restoring the castle and dealing with Mel, and now the dragon chick, she hadn't had much time to dwell on what had happened. She had guessed Terra brooded on it, and that had been confirmed by Mel's observations, but that was just Terra. Ven was…Ven. No other way to describe him – he was taking things in stride and focusing on the good things in life, and as ever that kept him going. But when she stopped for a moment to reflect on the last decade or so…she wanted to collapse and scream.

An arm went around her shoulder, and she leaned instinctively into Terra's side. For that moment, the only solid thing in existence was him; Aqua buried her face in his shoulder and concentrated on steadying her breath, breathing in his scent as she did. After a while she gained her composure and drew back, wiping her eyes and avoiding his gaze. Terra placed his hands on her shoulders looking at her face intently.

"All right?"

Aqua nodded mutely.

"C'mon, let's go bed. If we don't sleep we won't keep up with Ven tomorrow,"

Aqua giggled and let him steer her towards the dorms. She checked on the others before she retired; Ven was passed out face down on top of the bed covers snoring gently, so Aqua threw a blanket over him so he wouldn't catch a chill. Mel was fast asleep curled up into a ball with her back close to the wall, and nestled against the small of her back was the dragon, just visible from the doorway by his long wings that hadn't developed yet. Finally, Aqua fell into her own bed, and despite all the thoughts whirling around her head at high speed, she feel asleep very quickly.

XOXOX

The following morning after the egg had hatched, Mel said to the others, "If it's all right with you guys, I want to call him Leo."

"You don't have to ask us – he's _your_ dragon!" Terra said teasingly, ruffling her hair. It was down today; a blonde cascade of curls down to her waist, still partially obscuring her face with coiled tendrils that hung either side. Terra managed to partially turn it into a haystack.

"Well, since you're also part of his new family, I thought I should ask your opinion." She said, carefully smoothing the mess in her hair out.

"Leo. For Leonardo?" Aqua asked, looking up from the pan of milk she was warming on the stove.

"Yeah,"

"Sounds great!" Ven bent down to scoop the chick up. He squeaked with alarm and struggled. "Hey Leo! Nice to meet you again, I'm Ventus!" The chick stopped struggling and looked up into Ven's face, eyes bright with curiosity. Then he stretched up and licked his cheek, chirruping loudly. "Ugh! Aqua," Ven rubbed his face against his shoulder while the chick squealed with delight. "Please tell me you've found something in that book about brushing dragons' teeth!"

"He doesn't _have_ teeth yet!" Terra reminded

Even after the first week, Leo grew exponentially. They tried to vary his diet, and while the dusty book detailed graphic aerial manoeuvres and battles that no one could figure out if they were fictional or not, it lacked on the basic care and nutritional information. Leo seemed to like meat, with grated vegetables – though the first time he encountered an onion he squeaked and ran away looking for cover. Warm milk mixed with blood that dripped from the raw meat seemed to be a preferred drink to water, but Mel threw a few dice and knucklebones around along with some tarot cards and insisted they also make him drink plenty of water. Everything had to be virtually blended for him to eat since he had no teeth; the sharp protrusion on his nose fell off like an umbilical cord after the first day, and Mel kept it in the box that the book had been found in, along with the pieces of eggshell. Ven had tried to dent and fracture what remained of it, and had failed to make even a scratch – that dragon chick was _strong_. Terra had taken the nose-tooth and scraped it across a piece of shell, and found it left a deep gash as it went. They carefully laid it to rest after that, worried about the damage it could cause.

While Aqua put everything on hold for a few days to keep translating the book and make her notes, Ven and Mel made their own notes about what they observed with the chick, and Terra made them a binding folder to put everything in. They delayed their visit to the Coliseum by a day so they could put everything in order.

By that point, they had figured out a diet for Leo (Mel had pulled out a dowsing pendulum and worked her way through weights and percentages before drafting a weekly menu for him) and Aqua had a good idea how you could fight from a dragon's back using a Keyblade. There was an awful lot about fighting and training regimes for dragons, but almost nothing about care and handling. Traditionally in folklore dragons breathed fire; they couldn't get even a wisp of smoke out of Leo, and he seemed far more intent on getting his nose into things than setting them alight. No traces of fire breathing abilities were found in him at all.

When Sunday came around, they had decided to go visit Phil and Hercules, and take Leo with them. Two people could handle him at all times while the others trained and took part in the games – because they had postponed their intended visit, they would be in time for the next championship. Since Leo couldn't breathe fire, had no teeth, and his claws were miniscule, they guessed he wouldn't be a danger to anyone, and provided they kept a constant eye on him he wouldn't get lost.

They got up early Sunday morning and ate a hurried breakfast. Ven packed a rucksack full of food for Leo and Mel pulled together a few things together for him to play with, namely noisy and shiny objects like the crude rattle Terra had made and a very pretty rock Mel had in her collection that split and refracted light into rainbows. Aqua had spent the previous day learning a spell to give Leo his armour so he was protected in the Lanes Between, and also because they couldn't fit him into the satchel anymore – or any bag for that matter.

"Okay," Ven said, dumping the bags in a heap in the middle of the courtyard. "That's everything!"

"Here," Mel handed him a flask of water. "You need to drink."

Ven laughed, and took a swig to placate her. Mel went on about the importance of hydration a lot.

"Ready?" Terra asked Aqua.

She nodded, and touched her shoulder to call her armour. The other did the same, though they kept their helmets off for the moment. Mel picked up Leo and held him out to Aqua, struggling to keep her arms straight. He was used to being held now, and kept quite still, nose snuffling curiously at the air. The downy fluff that covered his body was slowly thinning, revealing a bony looking black skin that was slowly lightening in some places. His _blue_ blue eyes were darkening into a colour they couldn't quite guess at yet, and his squeaks were deepening into more throaty gurgles and whines. He had also just about doubled in size – probably just a little bit more.

Aqua raised her Keyblade and touched it against his forehead. Ven had practised with a wooden blade to prepare Leo so he didn't freak out. The spell she was about to cast was adapted from an original into Aqua's mother tongue, and she had spent ages trying to get it to rhyme like the book said it should.

"Be shielded from the space between," she recited, drawing on her magic. "And return from whence you've been; Homeward always in safety. With each experience learn and grow; Through every high and low; Feel your progress innately." The air around Leo flashed for a moment, and then he was engulfed in a set of armour like their own. It was deep purple chased with silver, and shone glaringly in the sun.

"Cool!" Ven said, grinning. It almost matched Mel's – her armour was like her boots, silver and amethyst; Leo's was much darker, and the silver was far more lustrous. "So he's got the same protection as us now, right?"

Aqua smiled and leant over to scratch his chin beneath his own helmet, and he growled in much the same way a cat purrs. Less formally, she said, "Be shielded from the forces of darkness and ill intent."

After that, they grabbed their things and got ready to leave. They had decided Mel would travel with Terra as his Glider could support all three of them, so she climbed onto the seat behind him, clutching the squirming protesting chick, and held on to his waist.

"Okay back there?" he said over his shoulder as Ven jumped onto his own Glider.

"Yeah, hey-!" she rearranged the hatchling, clamping firmly between her legs with as little room to manoeuvre as possible. "Steady, Leo. It's all right."

Leo squawked in protest at being confined so, especially when they were out in the open air; he had had one jaunt out to the training area with Terra the day before, and he had loved it. Now he was outside again, and forbidden to even move.

They left in convoy, and Ven relished the feeling of freedom as he soared through space, alongside his friends. They followed the pathway through the Lanes Between, and soon they were at the Coliseum, touching down outside the gates. They debussed and dropped their armour – Aqua had to do Leo's for him – and the chick wriggled out of Mel's arms the first chance he got, scampering away across the dirt courtyard, shrieking indignantly.

"Oh no!" Mel said, hand over her mouth.

"Hey, come back here!" Ven called, running after him. "Leo, you'll get lost!"

"I doubt he can understand you," Terra said, shaking his head.

"He'll be interpreting the tone of voice," Mel said, tensing herself as though she was about to dive.

"What do you think he's reading it as?" Terra asked as Ven chased Leo back towards them.

" 'I'm the blonde one, I'm running after you shouting'." Mel said. She waited for a moment, and then as Ven drew level with her she really did dive. Springing on her left hand, she grabbed Leo with her right and landed with a skid on her back, holding the chick up in the air triumphantly. "There! Staying with us is more fun then running off by yourself, isn't it?"

Leo cooed, tail trashing happily from side to side, glad to be free again. His wings beat at the air, and a small tuft of downy feathers floated upwards on the breeze. Ven leant down to give Mel a hand and helped her to her feet; Leo hooked his claws and tail into her clothes and clung there quite peacefully.

"Fluffy little git," Ven muttered to Terra as they set off towards the vestibule. "He never sits like that for _me_."

"You were the one chasing after him shouting," Terra reminded him, grinning slyly.

"Guys," Aqua said in a bored voice. "Knock it off,"

"I was just saying!" Terra defended himself, hands in the air.

Aqua pushed the door open, and held it for them, eyes narrowed as they ducked inside sheepishly. Even if they weren't willing to openly acknowledge her status over them, they still inwardly respected it.

"Oho!" said a familiar voice, and Ven grinned, forgetting his spat with Terra instantly.

"Phil!"

The ageing satyr had been stood on a plinth inspecting the match up draws on a chalkboard, but he jumped down and was promptly run over by Ven, who picked him up and spun round in a circle, whooping loudly.

"I'm so glad to see you, Phil!"

"Whoa! Put me down!"

Ven placed him back on the plinth, but had to hold a hand out to keep him from falling off in a dizzy daze.

"Sorry," Terra apologised. "Ven's a little over excited these days."

"Eh, no worries!" Phil said, shaking his head to clear it. "Terra! Aqua, good to see ya again! And who's this?" he gestured at Mel, who had surreptitiously hidden herself behind Terra's elbow. Leo looked fascinated with the room, especially the flickering flames, and started chirruping loudly. "Your new apprentice by any chance?"

Aqua smiled and gently took Mel by the shoulders, wheeling her out of Terra's shadow. Leo made another bid for freedom by scrabbling onto Terra's arm and landed on his shoulder, trying to bat at the flames with his forepaw.

"Oh no you don't," Terra said firmly, grabbing him under the forelegs and holding him well out of harms ways, much to Leo's vocal indignation.

"Phil, this is the student I was telling you about – Melody. Mel, this is Philoctetes, trainer of heroes."

"Extraordinaire!" Ven put in, making Phil chuckle. He seemed to have developed even more of a potbelly over the years, and his sparse hair was showing the first signs of going grey. He was aging with his own sort of grace…

"Flattery'll get you no where, but it's a good place to start!" Phil chastised him. He turned to Aqua and said, "If you want the Rookie trained you'll have to wait. I'm sortin' all the applications for the games today. Maybe I can slot you in afterwards."

"That'd be great, Phil."

"And what's with the chicken?"

Leo gave a high-pitched whine that may have meant to be a roar, and struggled feebly in Terra's hands. He gave up and stared dejectedly at the floor, grumbling deep in his chest as Ven said, "You're holding him wrong! That's why he's complaining,"

"Aren't we supposed to teach him patience or something?" Terra said through gritted teeth; Leo had started struggling again and wasn't going to give in so easily this time. It had been relatively easy to hold him when he had just hatched – now he was a writhing ball of fluffy limbs nearly as long from nose to tail as Terra's outstretched arms, finger tip to finger tip. It made hanging onto him very difficult.

"Umm…" Mel said, biting her lip. She had reverted to the girl who had first crossed their doorway the moment she met Phil, but now Mel scuttled over to Terra and took Leo into her custody. From a pocket she drew a small orange, and expertly relieved it of its peel one handed before slowly feeding him one segment at a time. Like magic, Leo stopped complaining and struggling, and seemed quite happy with all the noise from the stadium and the comings and goings of various fighters while Phil listened to Ven talk about their new training regime. As Aqua and Mel were giving Leo a drink from a baby bottle they had found (goats milk mixed with blood from the joint of beef Terra had roasted yesterday) Phil started pleading Terra to join the games.

"I'm not really here to fight," he said, scratching the back of his head and trying to sidle out of the situation, making Ven snigger.

"Well, you'll be disappointing all your fans – you're still considered a legend around here! 'Specially after you disappeared for years on end!"

"Well disappointing fan's is my specialty today," Terra was about to make a run for it when Ven grabbed his arm.

"Aww, c'mon! It'll be fun! If not I'll fight in his place,"

"Ah, actually," Phil checked the room, which was empty apart from them. "I need a favour."

"What?" Terra sighed, resigned.

"Well, Herc's been off for a while dealing with… 'Family matters'. So I got a troop of newbies coming through here for the small time games. Some of those kids ain't half bad, but their hearts aren't in the right place, if ya know what I mean. They think just because they can swing a sword they're the Gods' given gift to the world. Maybe you could show them it takes more than fighting skills to be a true hero?" Phil hammed it up by going all wide-eyed and starry, trying to emotionally blackmail Terra. "Cause of course, you're the perfect example of what a hero is! Not to mention if you win over the head honcho of this group the others will follow, and it'll save me a lot of trouble,"

"So basically," said a familiar voice from the doorway, and they all swung round to see Lea leaning against the lintel, smirking. "You want Terra to do your dirty work for you?"

"Lea!" Ven bounced over, waving. "It's been a while!"

"Hey, Sparky," he ruffled Ven's hair.

"It's not that!" Phil huffed, incensed. "I'm not as young as I used to be, and with Herc gone I can't handle the situation by myself. I got Sora and his friends keeping an eye on it at the moment, but it's gonna take more than that!"

"What situation?" Aqua asked, giving Lea a one armed hug in greeting. He had ditched his black coat in favour of clothing reminiscent of those he had worn when Ven had first met him, though these were admittedly cleaner and less raggedy, and also brighter in colour.

"The head of this little group will turn out to be a petty thug if he doesn't stop bullying the other kids. Which is a shame cause he's actually a good fighter. But that doesn't stop him being a nuisance!" Phil fumed.

"Okay," Terra said slowly, thinking very carefully and taking so long that Ven felt the need to nudge him. "I'll enter, and see what I can do. Who am I looking out for?"

"You can't miss him," Lea said, tucking a stray lock of vibrant red hair behind his ear. "Killion, wears a purple tunic and a red scarf. Long blonde hair held back by a stupid leather Alice band. Got it memorised?"

"Where're the others?" Phil demanded as Lea proceeded to lounge on the one chair in the room.

"Beats me. I'm not their babysitter, besides! Riku's got it all under control."

"They're here already?" Ven demanded, itching to look for them.

"Yup. They decided to stay a bit longer since you guys bailed on us yesterday," Phil said, picking up a stack of entry forms and rifling through them.

"That wasn't _our_ fault!" Ven said before Aqua could say anything. "We had to figure out how to look after a baby dragon – that _no one_ knows anything about!"

"Whoa, cool it kid! You're as bad as Sora,"

"So!" Lea got up and strode over to Mel, who was holding said dragon in her arms. He put a hand against the wall and leaned over so he was looking straight down over her head. "This is your new apprentice, right?"

Mel shied away, wide eyed and obviously intimidated by this tall, muscular, over-confident man. Ven stifled a laugh and came to stand by her side, so she was sandwiched between two people she knew and trusted. Sadly, that didn't do much for her own confidence.

"Lea, this is Melody and Leo. Mel, this is our friend Lea."

"N-nice to meet you," she bowed, quite formally, and Lea did a double take.

"O…Kay."

"Hey, Ven! Why don't you sign up for the tournament too?" Phil said, distracting him. "There's one more space," he wheedled.

"All right! Sign me up!"

Aqua shook her head, smiling to herself.

"What?" Ven demanded.

"Take it easy, okay?" she asked him, leading Mel to the doors with an arm around her shoulders. "We're going to look for the others, catch up with us when you're ready."

"Kay!" Ven waved them off.

Lea sniggered.

"What?" Ven rounded on him, irritated. "Why is everyone still treating me like a kid? I'm an adult now!"

"Cause," Lea said, flicking him between the eyes as he walked past, flipping his scarf over his shoulder. "You spent all the time when you should have been emotionally maturing and growing up – fast asleep."

Ven snarled at his retreating back. _Why_ did everyone have to keep reminding him of that?! Then Terra put a soothing hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at his best friend balefully.

"You should know better than to listen to that doofus!"

They both laughed until a fireball came hurtling towards them. Phil got angry when Lea stalked back menacingly with ire in his eyes. "Hey! Hey hey hey! Take it outside, you guys!"

"Race ya!" Ven shouted, barrelling forth so Lea had to dodge out of the way. "Last one's the referee!"

"Like hell!" Lea shouted, chasing after him.

Terra turned to Phil and said, "I'll gladly help you out, Phil. But first I need to prise those two apart."

"Heh, say no more! Do what you have to, just make sure I've still got a coliseum for the games when they're done!"

XOXOX


	3. Being A Good Teacher

**AN: thanks for favouriting and following! :) if you have time to drop me a review and let me know what you think I'd really appreciate it, even if all you have is criticism! ;)**

**Also, I wasn't expecting to update this soon but we were unexpectedly snowed on so I stayed inside where it's warm and not slippery and worked on this. Enjoy!**

_**Being A Good Teacher**_

"Hey!" someone shouted, and Aqua turned around to see Sora on the balcony of a café, waving and grinning at them. "Aqua! Over here!"

Aqua smiled, and steered Mel towards the café. They had got a few odd looks from passers-by, but so many weird and wonderful people came through for the games no one really paid too much attention to Leo. Mel had brought a long, thick strip of fabric she normally used as a scarf – they had tied it around her like a maternity sling and shoved Leo into it. It was easier to carry him, and only his head and tail were clearly visible – he could pass for an exotic lizard like this.

They entered a side door from the street, and climbed a set of stairs to reach the balcony; behind them was an indoor bar where you could get drinks and presumably food. Aqua had barely set foot into the sunlight when she was mobbed by Sora; he pulled her into a bone-breaking hug, laughing happily.

"It's so good to see you again!" when he stepped back she saw he was holding a huge ice cream cone pile high with all manner of toppings – he hadn't spilt a single drop in his mad dash to greet them.

"You too, Sora!" she smiled, ruffling his hair. "This is Mel,"

"Hi Mel!" he grinned, thrusting a hand out to her. "I'm Sora!"

Aqua was expecting her to try and bolt, but Mel surprised him by taking his hand and shaking it firmly, with her usual soft smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Come on over! We've got a table," he said, leading them to where Riku and Kairi were sat in the shade of a huge umbrella.

Aqua introduced Mel, and then Leo, attempting to explain what little she knew about dragons and Keyblades. Once the introductions were over, Riku pestered her with questions about the book and the sketches, wanting to know and understand every last detail. In the mean time, Kairi and Mel were chatting away happily about different art mediums, while Sora entertained Leo – apparently they were both having the time of their lives, though Aqua was sure Sora was almost always like that.

Leo stuck his snout into the ice cream to try and smell it, and caused a commotion when he found out first hand how cold it was. He tried to beat his wings to fly away, but of course he had no flight feathers, so instead he toppled off Sora's lap and onto the floor with a scream. Once he got over the shock of the ice creams soft, cold texture, he proceeded to try and gorge himself on it. It was just the right consistency that he could eat it easily, and Sora didn't seem to mind loosing most of his ice cream. In fact, he bought everyone a round of cones, and even one just for Leo, which Riku fed him somewhat expertly considering he had never seen a dragon before, let alone handled one.

"He's so cute!" Kairi said, laughing at him. Leo was on his back, having eaten more than his fair share of ice cream, and having his belly scratched; he was in ecstasy.

"Can I hold him again?" Sora asked loudly.

Leo made a grating noise at the back of his throat, head lolling from side to side as Riku scratched him. "I think he really likes you," Mel complimented him.

Riku grinned, increasing the speed, and Leo all but purred in response. "Me? Or the ice cream,"

"Probably the food," Sora teased. "Hey, I introduced him to it!"

"Um…" Riku raised a hand. "I think your dragon's moulting." Wispy clumps of feathery down was floating away on the breeze, much like a cat's fur.

Mel whipped out the little leather journal that followed Leo everywhere and started noting it down with a borrowed pen. By the time they went looking for the others at the coliseum, Leo had shed an ample amount of his down, which Mel carefully wrapped up in tissues and put in her bad. They were trying to save as much as possible to keep for future reference, and document everything that happened as he grew. When they finally met up with Terra, who was sat on the ground with his back to the wall, watching Lea chase Ven around the courtyard, Aqua showed him Mel's journal entry, which made him laugh. She had written about the reaction to and sudden love of ice cream, and under the note about the moulting she had roughly sketched Riku and Leo, capturing their expressions perfectly.

"You had ice cream without me?" Lea demanded when he over heard the conversation.

"They didn't have any sea salt." Sora blinked innocently. "And you said you were gonna wait for the others, we didn't know where you'd gotten to. And it would have melted if we'd tried to save you some!"

Before Lea could respond he was interrupted by a loud squawk, and looked down to find Leo tugging at the hem of his shorts, standing up to his full height to try and get his attention. "What do _you_ want, fuzz ball?" he said playfully.

Leo closed his eyes, threw back his head and keened loudly before trying to climb up his leg. He was staring intently at Lea's head, and every time he leant to one side or shook himself, Leo followed the motion like a hawk.

"I think he's staring at your hair," Ven said eventually. By that point they were all sat on the ground with Terra, waiting for the stands to open.

"What? Why?" Lea asked. He had only just sat down, and Leo had pounced on him, overjoyed that his quarry had come to him.

"Well, he was entranced by the flames earlier." Aqua said slowly. "Maybe it's your hair?"

As if in answer, Leo put his forepaws against Lea's shoulder and stuck his nose into his hair. Then, once he was satisfied, he started licking it as though it were an ice cream, and seemed disappointed when he wasn't rewarded with food.

"Eewww!" Lea complained, giving him a shove.

Kairi gave him a clean handkerchief, and Mel apologised profusely, but he waved her away. "Just keep that chicken away from me." Was all he said.

Phil arrived as Riku and Sora were playing a game of tag with Leo; they were racing around in circles with mirrors to reflect the sunlight, trying to tag each other while the chick raced after the multitude of moving targets.

"Hey, don't wear yourselves out, ya hear?" he told them, dodging out of the way as Leo went pelting after a particularly large reflection. "Everything's set! You can all come in,"

"But where are the other spectators? Ooph!" Riku staggered as Leo tried to jump on him, begging to play again.

"They won't be here for another half hour! Got everything set up and ready before hand, so we can give this rookie a quick training session before the games. Looks like this tournament's gonna finish late, thought it wouldn't be fair if we left her out."

"Thanks Phil, that's really kind of you." Aqua said.

After a quick warm up, Phil had Mel running around the arena destroying targets and working through her paces. She did quite well, and seemed to really enjoy herself; she followed Aqua to the stands, bright eyed and bushy tailed when the first spectators arrived. Everyone but the two of them was signed up for the games today, so they sat in the stands with Leo to watch. After an ample helping of his favourite drink, Leo curled up across both of their laps and fell fast asleep – not even their cheering could rouse him.

Just before the first match started, Aqua wished them all luck, and Ven and Sora shook hands. "May the best keyblader win!" Sora said, grinning.

"Coming through!" Lea pushed his way between them with a flourish. "You called?"

"That would be _me_," Riku put in, pushing his own way past.

"Ha ha!" Sora ran after him.

"Not today!" Ven yelled at their retreating backs.

Aqua had been keeping an eye out for these troublemakers Phil had mentioned; they hadn't seen them in town, and Sora said he wasn't sure where they had disappeared to. The second match consisted of a group of heartless, and a local youth who thrashed them with unnerving ease; he strolled onto the pitch, and then off again with a graceful arrogance that caught Aqua's eye. Maybe he was one of the perpetrators?

Next up was Ven, and Aqua cheered loudly for him with Mel. He won, naturally, as did the others in all their battles. Things only really became interesting when they had to fight each other; first off Lea and Sora fought at length, and Sora won by the skin of his teeth because Lea tripped on the uneven surface of the arena. Then Kairi went up against Terra, and though she fought valiantly, she wasn't really a match for him physically. One by one, the others came to join them in the stands, and added their voices to the crowd. Lea was obviously put out, but he bounced back with renewed vigour soon enough.

"There's always next time," Kairi shrugged. "And besides! We get to spend more time with you now,"

The battles went on, and next up was Riku and Sora. The fight went on for a long time, and in the end Riku won only narrowly, and he had to take time to recover before his next match. Sora joined them, still grinning as if he'd won. "That was fun! Did you see us?"

"No Sora," Lea said loudly and sarcastically as he sat down beside Kairi. "I came up here so I could bird watch, not because I wanted to see the tournament."

When Riku entered the ring again, he easily dispatched his next opponent, and then lost to Ven in a fight that took less than two minutes – leaving the stands in stunned silence. It was an incredibly lucky strike on Ven's part, so soon into the battle, and he'd also had more time to rest in between his matches. Riku dragged himself to their perch in the stand and promptly fell face first onto the bench behind them, groaning. There was a large bruise developing on his forehead.

Mel gave him a quick treatment to ease the pain (she had brought her med kit with them) and when he refused to move, Sora leapt on him and started tickling him the way he had been scratching Leo earlier.

"C'mon Riku! You're gonna miss the rest of the tournament!"

"Get – _off _– me-!" Riku shouted at him, and the continued their own match where they had left off.

Only did they break off when Kairi swatted at them, hissing, "Shhh! It's the title match!"

"Who are we cheering for?" Mel asked, wide eyed as Ven and Terra approached each other on the arena floor.

"Both of them, silly!" Kairi laughed.

"What do I scream?"

Sora jumped onto the bench, behind her and filled his lungs before bellowing, "C'MON YOU GUYS!" then he looked down at her and said, "Scream something like that!"

"I'm not done with you!" Riku snarled, grabbing him by the hood of his top and pulling him over backwards.

If Riku and Sora's match hadn't been gripping enough, this one really took the cake. Aqua and the rest of them ended up on her feet cheering and shouting encouragement, and her inner teacher flared as she started yelling advice and berating sloppy work. Terra paused long enough to give her an exasperated look before dodging out of the way as Ven tore his way past, swiping with heavy handed blows that were only just deflected. The crowd was on noisy tenterhooks, and pretty soon Leo woke up so he could cower beneath the benches, adding his own voice to the din to complain.

Just when it seemed a draw was a certainty, Ven missed his footing and had to dance out of the way, Terra took advantage of his moment of imbalance and brought his keyblade down in a devastating blow. Ven managed to block it, but it took all his strength and he couldn't move fast enough to deflect the following blow. He fell to the ground in a messy heap, and the spectators roared their approval.

"I don't believe it," Aqua said, narrowing her eyes at the two of them. Terra grabbed Ven by the scruff of the neck and heaved him to his feet, where the two of them shook hands jovially and Ven tried to knock him over. The people in the stands chuckled at this affectionate display, and cheered as they ambled arm in arm towards the podium. Phil presented the cup with great ceremony, and gave Ven and the other runner up their own prizes. After the furore of the tournament had subsided Aqua pounced on them, demanding answers.

"You did that on purpose! Why?" Ven opened his mouth to explain, but she cut across him. "You're not stupid, but you still missed your footing! What was that for! We trained you better than that!"

"Give the guy some air, gees!" Lea said, putting a hand on her shoulder and tugging her away from him. "Well done, Terra! Maybe next time,"

"Looking forward to it,"

"You did it for Terra and Phil," Mel said out of the blue, and they all turned to look at her. Leo was clinging to her back, glad the noise was all over; his long tail was wrapped around her leg, and his wings kept beating softly as though he was practising flying, his head hanging over her shoulder. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah!" Ven grinned. "It was my idea."

"_What_?" Aqua demanded. "It was such a stupid mistake! I couldn't understand why you'd do such a thing,"

"Easy, Aqua," Terra said, trying to defend him.

"Like Mel said." Ven went on. "Let those kids see how tough we all are, and see how difficult it was for Terra – _previous champion_ – to fight me, but he still beat me anyway. Next time they see him, they'll be more likely to listen to him. And he's being a good role model!" he looked disappointed. "_I_ thought it was a good idea…"

"Oh Terra!" Phil said in a singsong voice. "Your adoring public awaits!"

"Ugh…" he shook his head. "You didn't say anything about publicity…"

"How about this!" Sora said, rubbing Leo's neck, to his great delight. "Riku and I go with Terra, and you guys go find somewhere for us to eat this evening?" it was already getting dark, and the increased noise levels weren't sitting well with Leo.

"Go on," Aqua pushed them towards the doors. "Can't keep your fans waiting! You too, Ven." She said before he could protest. "Consider this your punishment for that sloppy footwork,"

XOXOX

By the time Terra, Riku and Ven had peeled themselves away from the crowds, the others were already at the restaurant. Sora had gone to 'find' them and forgot to come back and tell Terra because he'd been feeding Leo from the bottle. The idea of cows blood and goats milk didn't seemed to deter him from trying it himself, purely out of curiosity. He was so wrapped up in the exercise, and he wouldn't stop berating himself when they eventually turned up on the doorstep – very tired and ravenous.

Killion, the boy Phil had warned him about, had tailed Terra all the way to the restaurant. He had been all shining eyes and admiration at first, asking for Terra's autograph and bombarding him with questions, which he answered good-naturedly. When Terra finally sat down and attacked the pizza with relish, ("Pizza? In Greece? Isn't this the wrong country?" Riku had demanded) he saw for himself what Phil had been talking about. There was a waitress, who couldn't be any older than fifteen, who was serving all the tables on the balcony, and Killion's cronies were giving her a hard time. They made snide remarks, and asked her for things that weren't on the menu, or were out of stock; at one point he over heard a nasty remark about women belonging in the kitchen.

"Hey, peaches!" the boy next to Killion shouted, on his way to becoming drunk. "Why don't you go back into that kitchen and make me a sandwich? With extra spicy pita bread!"

Aqua was staring hard at the wall of the balcony, ignoring them. Lea was tilting his chair back, looking up at the stars that were starting to emerge. Because they had arrived late, they had had to sit at two different tables, and Aqua and Lea had migrated across so Sora, Riku and Kairi could sit together. Ven was steadily working his way through another helping of pizza, when Kairi and Mel walked past on their way the to toilets. Riku was accompanying them, watching the rowdy table of bullies suspiciously. Leo was in capable hands with Sora, who was now giving him a creamy cheese to try, and thoroughly enjoying the attention.

On their way back, Kairi and Mel were accosted by one of the scrawnier boys, who said loudly as they approached, "Watch this!" clearly; he thought he was going to score.

Before he could reach them however, Riku appeared like a thundercloud and put an arm protectively around each of them. Glowering, he led them back to their table, with the cocky boy nearly wetting himself with fear. The others all laughed at him, and it seemed he had lost favour with their leader because he scuttled off into the crowd and didn't return for the rest of the evening. Terra was wondering how best to approach the problem when Mel walked past again and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up, but she glided past and straight toward to Killion's table.

"What is she _doing_?" Ven hissed, half standing and dropping his pizza.

"No idea," Terra said, getting ready to fish her out of trouble if he needed to.

Aqua put a hand on his arm and he turned to her. "I think she's got a plan."

"Excuse me?" Mel said pleasantly and the table went deadly quiet. "Are you using that chair?"

Killion looked from the vacated chair to her face. "Clearly not," he said loudly and obviously, to guffaws.

"Do you mind if I borrow it then?" she asked, her tone unfailingly polite and friendly.

Killion regarded her coolly while the other boys just stared dumbly at her. It was probably the first time a girl had been undeterred and unfazed by their antics – Terra imagined they were unnerved by it.

"Go on," Killion said carelessly, not looking at her as he gestured at the chair.

"Thank you very much," she said gently, hooking her fingers around the back of the chair and dragging it across the floor with a loud scraping sound. "Terra!" she called loudly as she went, even though his attention was already focused on her. "I can talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," he said, moving his own chair around to make room for her, and wondering why she was suddenly acting out of character. The Mel that had first arrived on their doorstep would have run away from a group like that, not gone up and asked so civilly for the loan of a chair.

Instead of drawing up the chair and sitting like a normal person, Mel instead drew it up back to front, and sat down on it backwards facing the table, the way Terra had only ever seen boys do. She folded her arms and leant against the backrest of the chair and straightened her back up to give her some height – she was considerably shorter than the rest of them, and everything about her posture suggested that she was trying to put on a show of strength and confidence, even though her eyes betrayed the act – they were soft and gentle like always, seeming to absorb and reflect the light simultaneously. Lea raised an eyebrow at her actions, but said nothing.

"Hey Terra," she said conversationally, her tone quiet and contained like always. "I was wondering about your take on sexism. From the male perspective."

"O…kay? Shoot,"

"I'm wondering because Kairi and I got accosted on the way here by some boys outside the café in the town square. They were shouting things about making sandwiches for them at us."

Aqua scoffed, and Terra was suddenly aware that the majority of the boys on Killion's table were straining to hear what they were saying; it all clicked into place.

"A bit rude. Did they think you were selling them or something?" he asked, stretching his arms above his head and leaning back so his face was shielded from view. Mel was watching him closely and he gave her a wink; she smiled, and continued as if nothing had happened. Now he had figured out her motive, he could play along more effectively, and adopted an innocent, unknowing air.

"No I think they were trying to make themselves look 'Well 'Ard' as the saying goes. It seems that around here to be viewed as a 'popular' you need to have a healthy disrespect for people, including girls in general. And, I'm in a bit of a dilemma."

"What's wrong, Mel?" he said, raising a hand and placing it on Aqua's to keep her quiet. Normally he would have just raised it held it in the air, but to the crowded table of onlookers that would appear demeaning. Also, he didn't fancy his chances if Aqua got mad at him. She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything.

"I'm not sure which I found more insulting." Mel went on, conversationally. "The fact that they were demanding food from us, or the fact that they were demanding something as simple and easy to make as a _sandwich_."

Terra shot a glance at Aqua, who seemed to have cottoned on to what Mel was doing. She nudged Ven, who was still munching on pizza, and he laughed with his mouth full.

"Ven, please swallow before you open your mouth." She said sweetly, making them all laugh as well.

"Yeah, I'd be insulted too!" he said once his mouth was empty. "I've seen you cook _way_ more complicated dishes than that!"

"That's my point," she gestured with her hands, elbows on the. "Because it's one thing to assume all women live in the kitchen, which in itself is really demeaning. But I feel insulted by the assumption that we can't achieve anything more complex than the humble sandwich."

"The _nerve_ of those guys!" Lea chipped in with a smirk, giving her a wink as well. "You know, back when I was at school there was a campaign to try and get female politicians ousted from parliament."

"What happened?" Aqua asked as they all turned to him.

"They had a demonstration in front of the castle," he said grandly. "And their own little rally and manifesto and everything. And they printed all these flyers too. It's too bad no one took them seriously, though. All that effort…" he shook his head and tutted.

"Why not?" Ven asked.

"They mispelt 'women'."

"How?"

"W-I-M-M-I-N." he said, tracing the letters in the air with his finger.

Silence fell at their table, and Terra noted that now everyone on Killion's table was eavesdropping intently. Mel arched one eyebrow quizzically while Aqua gave Lea a withering look; Ven stifled a snigger, and then burst out laughing. Terra gave a half laugh, and then hammed up his total surprise. "Seriously?"

"Because you can trust the judgement of someone who doesn't even research the name of their opposition. Or can't even spell properly period." Mel said sagely.

"Wow," Terra nodded wisely, the way Master Eraqus used to. "What a bunch of dumbasses."

The conversation continued, and they debated at length about gender roles. Lea said, "Don't get me wrong, a lot of girls aren't cut out for fighting and adventuring because physically they _are_ a lot weaker – just hear me out, will you?" he said as Terra made to argue. "That's just a fact. Look at that girl there," he pointed at the waitress who was bringing Sora's table dessert. "She clearly doesn't have what it takes to be a brawling fighter. _But_, she can handle herself in a _verbal_ fight, and she's doing a fantastic job here tonight. Because girls and women are programmed to be caring and supportive, more so than men, so they are great at hospitality roles. But there are some women – like Aqua, and Kairi, and even you Mel – who totally _are_ cut out for the adventuring job. And there are some boys and men who are better at the 'girly' stuff. And to be honest," he added, sneering, aware that the boys were watching him closely. "I'd be embarrassed by a member of my sex who didn't even know how to make a sandwich. That's just pathetic!"

"And don't girls like sensitive guys anyway?" Ven put in, looking around the table. "Mel, would you rather date a guy whose brains are in his biceps, or a guy who could do and wanted to, cook you dinner?"

"That's a broad and unbalanced representation of the male population Ven, but I get the gist of it." Mel said before looking up at the sky for effect as she externally debated. "A lunkheaded and dependant bigot, or a sensitive and self sufficient man. Oooh, I'll have to go with the latter, every time."

"And what do you think, Aqua?" Terra asked, nodding sagely at Mel's words.

"You heard the girl," she said with a smile. "Though I think for me personality would be the biggest deciding factor,"

When they finally wrapped up the conversation after dessert, the boys on Killion's table had lapsed into murmured conversation, and kept shooting Terra furtive looks. They had argued and debated (in a very civil manner, he was proud to say) at length, and come to the amiable conclusion that there were too many immature and ignorant people in the world. Mel nodded to herself, and stood up, hooking the chair with her. "Food for thought," she said at no one in particular, though said _to_ the boys who were listening in. "I'll go put this back," She trundled over and neatly slotted the chair underneath the table, smiling at the boys around her. "Thank you so much for the chair. Have a nice evening," and she spun gracefully on her back leg and came back to their table.

"Well done," Terra said in a low voice, grinning.

Mel smiled back, and made a show of giving him a hug from behind; he put a hand on her arm and laughed as Ven made a joke about gender stereotypes. "I'm going to go get Leo," she said, this time ruffling _his_ hair before leaving.

"She's _good_," Lea murmured to Ven. "I bet those guys don't even know what she's just done."

They ended up paying as two separate tables, and when it came to the bill the same girl who had been given a hard time by Killion's cronies, and had been waiting their table all evening came to collect. On top of the tip they scraped together from their budgeted fund, Terra took a bit extra from his own wallet and handed it to her. "You did really well tonight, thank you."

She stammered her thanks and pocketed the money separately from the bill, apparently unable to believe it. Before they left Terra had a word with the owner of the restaurant about the girl and her excellent service, and said to him, "We'll be coming back here when we're next in town!" as he turned to leave, he walked into Killion and a couple of his friends, watching him like hawks. "Hey kids, great place isn't it?"

"You coming to the next tournament?" one of them asked eagerly.

"If I can make it, I'll try."

"Terra!" Sora shouted from the entranceway. "Master says HURRY UP!"

"I'm just coming! I'm talking right now,"

XOXOX

"You absolute sneak!" Lea said, nudging Mel's shoulder with his fist and smirking. "I like you."

Mel shrugged. "It seemed like the opportune moment to help Phil out. Also, I was getting a bit irritated with those guys at that table."

Ven snorted. He doubted she had it in her to get _really_ annoyed – she was perpetually calm and collected. They told Phil what had happened, and he thanked Terra profusely when he finally got back to them. Apparently, two of the boys had been begging Terra to give them training.

"Careful Phil," Riku said. "You might just get replaced."

"No one could replace Phil!" Sora gasped, horrified at the thought.

Aqua laughed, and turned to Riku who was holding Leo like a baby; he was curled up like a kitten, snoozing soundly. "You've done a wonderful job with him, but we need to take Leo back now,"

"Aw, it's a shame." He said, smiling down at the chick. "He's a lot of fun."

"You don't have to live with him though," Kairi put in.

Mel frowned worryingly at the baby dragon. "I wonder when dragon's start teething…"

Riku pretended to look up sharply. "On second thoughts," he said, offloading him into her arms. "Wouldn't want to end up as a chew toy!"

They laughed, and said good-bye to each other. Sora, Riku and Kairi left to board their gummi ship with Lea trailing behind. Sora had promised Ven he would show them the ship another day, during daylight hours. Then the others got ready to leave too – it was _much_ easier to get Leo to cooperate, since he was fast asleep and didn't even notice when his armour appeared. Back at home, they tucked him into a blanket lined wicker basket, and he barely stirred. The following morning they had planned to start some semblance of normal lessons, but of course Leo had other ideas; he pestered them non-stop, and kept jumping up at them, vocalising loudly and demanding attention.

"I think we spoiled him yesterday," Terra said eventually, gently hoofing him off a pile of books he was skimming through for references.

"I wonder what he wants?" Ven sighed, staring at the essay Aqua had set him on the principles of magic. Mel came into the room at that moment and Leo bounded over to her, shrieking happily and knocking her against the sideboard. "Any idea why he's hyper?" he asked her.

"I think he's trying to speak," she said, lifting him off the ground and into the air above her head. He opened his maw and gave an undulating call that _might_ have been syllables and the rhythm of human speech.

"How can you tell that?" Ven asked, amazed.

"That's what human babies do, they start babbling in a basic form of whatever language their parents speak at home. Most animals start moving and clearly communicating with each other from a much younger age than humans do, so I figured after yesterday he's trying to imitate us. There were a lot more people and they were all giving him attention and talking to him, and now he wants to talk back."

It seemed she was right; Aqua reported on her latest findings from the dragon book to them over lunch. Apparently, they could completely understand and even emulate a few human words, though they couldn't speak any language fluently. Leo would communicate through his own calls and body language, but he'd be able to understand them in their own language perfectly one day. With this thought in mind, they all turned to watch him; he was looking at his reflection intently in his water bowl before he reared up onto his hind legs and drove his front legs into the water, splashing it everywhere. Far from being startled by the sudden wave, Leo gurgled with delight and did it again, chasing the droplets and skidding on the widening puddle.

"Wet spill on aisle three," Terra said dully.

This episode raised another question: how did you clean a dragon? Still no words of wisdom from the book on how to _raise_ a dragon, so Mel started divining to find answers instead while Leo tried to run amuck. Two days after their visit to the coliseum the weather took a turn for the colder and damper: the day started overcast, which entranced him since the sky had only ever been blue before. Then in the middle of the afternoon the heavens opened and it poured with rain right the way through the night. It was still raining in the morning, and Leo ran out into the midst of it to see what was going on. He absolutely _loved_ it, and they had to deal with his temper tantrum when they finally got him back indoors, worried he was going to catch a cold. Leo roared his defiance, at a somewhat high pitch, and used his tail to whip Aqua's leg to show he wasn't happy. Mel gently tapped his nose each time he did this and said firmly, "_No_." this did nothing to improve his mood. Since Terra hadn't been present at the time, and he gave Leo his evening meal, Terra became flavour of the month, and Leo sat on his lap that night on the sofa in the common room, glowering at the others balefully and snarling when they tried to sit down next to him.

Come the next morning, however, he was back to chasing all four of them and begging for attention. Mel had figured out what they could use to wash him and keep him clean, so Terra took her to Radiant Garden to get the supplies while Ven stayed behind dragon sitting (Aqua was busy arranging with Yen Sid and King Mickey a time to meet up, and also for the others to come and have lessons). Once they returned, Ven helped her mix up the different oils and salts they had bought, and then they set about the tricky task of bathing.

They filled the bath with lukewarm water, and dropped some of the bath salts in. Mel had figured a method out for maximising Leo's fun and cleanliness, and they were going to follow it to see how well it went. At first, Leo didn't want to go into the bathroom – he had never been in there before – and once they had persuaded him into the room, they had to battle to get him into the bath. Leo resisted, possibly because he'd never seen so much water contained in one place like this before. In the end, Ven pulled his socks off and picked Leo up, ignoring the sharp sting of his claws, and stepped into the bath. Leo screamed until he was actually in the bath, and then he was thrashing around shrieking with glee, having the time of his life.

They set to work gently sponging him down, getting splashed in the face so often that they were both soaked through from head to toe. It was difficult trying to lean down into the bath to keep him still and rub him with special dragon shampoo at the same time, so Ven and Mel got in with him; Ven dispensed with his shirt and Mel pulled her jumper off, wearing a black t-shirt underneath. He was wearing shorts, so it wasn't too much of a problem, and Mel's trousers were so soaked through she didn't see the point in changing them, and got in anyway. It was _much_ easier to keep him under control this way, and they got the job done a lot faster.

Ven added some bubble bath, and Leo watched in amazement as the water frothed up in clouds of multicoloured bubbles before his very eyes. They both laughed as he tried attacking the bubble clouds, sloshing water all over the place.

"Well," Terra said from the doorway, making them jump. "This is snug, isn't it?" he smirked at Ven, and he scowled back.

"We thought it would be easier to bath him this way," Mel explained.

Leo, having heard Terra's voice, squealed with delight and tried to climb out of the bath to see him. Terra rewarded him by being the one to rub him down with a towel while the other two got changed. They presented to their Master an hour later a squeaky clean dragon chick – clean until he stuck his nose in the kitchen cabinet and got splattered with eggs.

"He's definitely growing," Aqua said after they had cleaned the mess up. "I think some feather's are starting to show,"

That wasn't the only thing that was appearing, when Leo was nearly a month old he became very irritable all of a sudden, and snarled whenever someone came near. Ven tried to see what was wrong, because he looked upset about something, but he got smacked in the face with Leo's appreciably thick and powerful tail. When Terra tried to get a look by reaching for Leo's head he recoiled with a yelp, and a single line of bright red blood welled up from the gash on his hand. They all dropped everything to tackle the new problem, and soon deduced that he was starting to teethe. Mel crept up behind him and sat down quickly on his back, pinning his body and limbs to the ground – before he could take a bite out of her she grabbed his head and started massaging his jaw and lips, and then as he calmed down she rubbed against his gums. Leo gave a relieved sigh and let her continue, eyes closed in bliss.

What did you give a teething dragon? Again, the book failed to tell them what to do, so while Aqua cursed it to high heaven and Terra kept jotting things down in the journal, Ven got out the pieces of eggshell and offered them to Leo, being the only thing they knew might stand up to his newly emerging teeth. They also gave him bones from the meat they cooked, which didn't last very long but also ended up supplementing his diet with the marrow they provided.

Riku and Sora came to visit not long after the teething began (Kairi was sick with the flu and couldn't make it) and they were gob smacked by how much he'd grown; his shoulder was now level with Riku's waist, and he couldn't be held in the arms anymore. The feathers on his wings were slowly developing, and his body was loosing the soft fluffy down in favour of an equally soft but more delicate and defined covering of feathers. They grew black, and then ended in purple tips, before starting to show raven toned blues and greens as well. His eyes had gone from a baby blue to a dark brown, and then lightened again to liquid gold, and his gums turned pink with the appearance of his teeth; there were molars, incisors, and six large canines (four on the top and two on the bottom). His tongue, however, stayed a deep purple, and the cleft at the tip became more prominent.

"Do you guys need any help?" Riku asked Aqua as Leo chased Sora around the great hall, trying to imitate his whoop of delight.

"We'll mange, but thanks," she smiled at him, feeling frazzled. "He's just at an awkward stage, I think.

"How's the teething going?"

"Badly." Terra said shortly. He and Ven were smarting after Leo had got his teeth into their shoulder plates, and had almost completely trashed Terra's. Mel had rescued it – only just. There was a chunk missing that they had yet to figure how to fix.

"We're running out of things to give him. He makes short work of the bones, and anything else we give him." Aqua had discovered him under the table this morning gnawing on one of her shoes. The purple stone set into Mel's boot had gone missing for similar reasons, and they were still waiting to see if it came through his digestive tract in one piece.

"Isn't there something you can give him that's really tough?" Sora asked, taking a break from mindless frolicking. He had tied a ribbon to Leo's tail, and just like a puppy he was chasing it like his life depended on it.

"He's chewed through everything we've given him." Terra said, exasperated. "And many things we _didn't_ give him." He looked as frazzled as Aqua felt.

Sora thought hard for a moment, and then said, "How about gummi blocks?"

"What?" Riku rolled his eyes. "That's a dumb idea!"

"No, listen!" Sora insisted. "Gummi blocks are really tough, and they withstand the space between the worlds, the corridors of darkness, _and_ attack from heartless and nobody ships! And you can shape them into whatever you want, so you could even make toys for him! Just cover it in something tasty to get his attention and get him into it, and then leave him to his own devices. Plus, we've got a _ton_ of blocks going spare! We pick them up all the time. We could even build a playground for him outside so he doesn't have to share the training rings with you."

They stared at him, amazed. Sora had just solved a dozen or so problems for them in one go. The training area outside had taken a battering, first from the rainstorms, and then from Leo's antics – they still hadn't repaired all the damage to the wooden posts. A dragon playground made from hardwearing gummi blocks would solve this problem in one go.

"Sora," Riku said wonderingly. "That's a semi-not-so-stupid idea."

"What would ya do without me?" he grinned.

Just then Leo caught his beribboned tail and sunk his new teeth into it, then screamed and jumped about a foot in the air before running to cower behind Terra, whimpering.

"On the other hand, you're still an idiot." Riku concluded.

Mel came back from laundry duty to find them shaping toys from gummi blocks, and Riku and Terra coming in from outside after having set up a rudimentary play pen for Leo to use while they did their outdoor training. Sora slathered a ball he had made with a rough and uneven surface, and a few spikes on one side, with some honey and then threw it to Leo. He zoned in on it and pounced, grabbing it and pinning it to the floor like prey. Then he started chewing and growled with satisfaction, tasting the sweet preserve and relieving the pressure on his gums. Sora snapped a few pictures on his camera to show Kairi when they got home, trying to get as many people in them as he could. He claimed 'photographic documentation' would go well with their notes.

Riku had tried to be more creative with his toys, but gave in when he saw the merit in Sora's misshapen lumps; the texture and form were more important to him to relieve the pain of his teeth coming through than the intellectual value of the toys he was playing with.

Mickey also came to visit, to see how Mel was doing and also to see this dragon Yen Sid had told him about. Leo was amazed that there was a person as tiny as Mickey, and at first thought he was a new toy to play with; he bowled the poor king over and landed on his back, using his legs to kick Mickey into the air like a ball. Mel rescued him, stammering her apologies and berating Leo for his lack of manners. He seemed contrite, since he could understand when he was being told off by now, and had learnt enough language to know what it was he had done wrong, so hopefully it wouldn't happen again. Mickey took it with good cheer, and remarked to Aqua his amazement of the creature.

Now, Leo was big enough to ride on the ground, though he still couldn't fly, and he had outgrown Mel's room. He now lived in a room on the ground floor, and they had enlarged the kitchen and common room doors to accommodate him. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Mel, and would soon tower over even Terra; his teeth stopped growing abruptly, and he went through a week of near constant napping, which worried them all greatly. This was around the time Mickey came to visit; he was staying for a few days to observe and help Aqua out, and then Leo started behaving oddly. He wasn't irritable, like when his teeth started coming through, he was just…lethargic. Ven wondered aloud if it was the weather, as it was getting Mel down too; she suffered a condition Terra called 'Fall Blues' (or seasonal depression, like a normal person), and whenever the sun forced its way through the clouds she ran outside to soak it up.

Leo spent a total of five and a half days mostly in a comatose state, and they eventually left him to it until sixth day when Terra woke up to find him outside his door keening loudly with hunger. After that his feathers visibly grew larger within a single day, and Aqua deduced it was a growth spurt. Everything that happened they wrote down, and they gave up on the book telling them anything they needed to know about health and care. The final chapter hadn't been read yet, but Aqua put that on hold in favour of enjoying time with the others. She made a blanket for Leo's bed, and they made his room as comfortable as they could; plenty of gummi toys for him to chew on, and even a scratching post for his claws that suddenly elongated over night.

When Aqua finally managed to get all the Keyblade wielders together for a training session, Leo had lost nearly all of his baby fluff, and the thick raven coloured feathers on his wings and tail had become waterproof. Ven discovered an oil that helped them stay that way, and they spent many evenings rubbing it into his feathers by the fireside while he crooned contentedly.

Everyone gathered together in the great hall and Aqua put them through some exercises before setting them up in pairs to practise magic duels. Donald and Goofy had come along too, the former to help with the lesson, and the latter to help keep an eye on Leo. Kairi was astounded by the size of him when she arrived, but Leo remembered her and knocked her off her feet with the enthusiasm of his greeting.

The lesson was a complete success, and Ven walked away laughing while Aqua tried to deny it was her doing. Mel cooked them a traditional roast dinner from her hometown, and everyone enjoyed their second and third helpings as much as the first. The scraps and leftovers went to Leo, who snapped them up greedily. Afterwards, they retied to the common room where Yen Sid found them much later. Mickey had been researching something in the library, and had been around to greet the Master when he arrived. No one else came, so they went to find them, and find them they did – fast asleep.

The main lights were out, but several lamps and the fireplace bathed the room with a soft glow. Aqua had been sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked up underneath her, and she had leaned against the arm of the sofa and fallen asleep pillowed on her arms; Terra was lying on his back, his head cushioned against the small of her back. Donald was at the other end of the sofa, snoring softly. On the floor, Ven was sat with his back against the sofa; on his right was Sora, using his shoulder as a pillow. Kairi was leaning against him, head back against the sofa. On Ven's other side Mel was curled into a ball, her head nestled in the crook of his hip, sound asleep. Lea and Goofy were in the reclining chairs, Lea's seat back and lying spread-eagled, snoring. On the hearthrug, Riku was curled up in Leo's embrace, partially obscured by his large wings. Leo was curved into a circle, his tail tucked up to his nose like a cat's, his legs tucked underneath his body and his wing billowing out like a solid shadow. Not one of them stirred in response to Mickey and Yen Sid's entrance.

"Gosh," Mickey said quietly, stifling a laugh and smiling. "They really tired themselves out." Yen Sid made to leave, and he said, "Shouldn't we wake them up?"

"I think it best to leave them as they are, don't you?" Yen Sid left the room, hands clasped behind his back. "Let them have their moment of peace."

"Is something wrong?" Mickey trailed after his master as they left the snoozing party.

"The heartless, and to a lesser extent the nobodies too, have been becoming more active in recent months. I am hoping that it is not connected to the arrival of the Keyblade Dragon."

Mickey pondered this for a moment. "Gosh. It's just one thing after another for those guys…" he felt quite sorry for them, especially Aqua as she was now in charge. "I'll do everything I can to help out!"

Yen Sid smiled tiredly, and closed his eyes. "My dear Mickey, I must say that you are almost as bad as Sora!"

They both laughed, and Mickey said, "That's a great compliment!"

XOXOX

When Riku opened his eyes, he thought he was blind, but he felt soft feathers against his cheek, and struggled to move only to find Leo's wing in the way. He had fallen asleep curled up beside the dragon…chick, was he still? Or did he count as a juvenile now?

Leo shifted in his sleep, and Riku managed to wriggle out from under his wing. Surprisingly, his neck had made for a good pillow – Riku felt barely any back or neck pains from sleep on the floor all night. He assumed it had been all night, because the lamps were still on even though grey daylight as filtering in through the windows, and the fire in the grate had dipped to a smouldering layer of near dead coals. Everyone else was still fast asleep where they had sat down, and Riku decided to leave them for the moment; he settled back down, using Leo as a pillow again. The dragon crooned in his sleep, tail twitching; the long spines that had made the skeletal fin structure were now sporting long, strong feathers that could be moved and repositioned as the spines were moved. It seemed that when he started flying, these feathers would provide an essential rudder for him to steer with – they kept flexing unconsciously, the same way a baby kicked their legs in preparation for walking.

As Riku lay in stupor, waiting for the others to wake up he let his mind wonder between complicated things like the meaning of life to the simple questions like: what's for lunch? He was just mulling over some of the things he had read about spell casting the previous day when Leo's tail whipped across to him, and tickled his nose for a fraction of a second. It was just enough to make Riku sneeze, and Leo jumped, waking up in an instant; he trashed for a moment clearly disorientated, and smacked Riku in the jaw with his powerful leg.

"Ouch!"

Leo turned to him and licked his cheek, whining like a contrite dog.

"It's okay," he said, scratching his neck. "You didn't do it on purpose."

When Leo stood up and shook himself down, Riku took a moment to stretch his cramped muscles. He lay back on the floor, eyes closed to savour the moment; he was surrounded by friends, in a warm, _light_ place, with a dragon for a pillow. What could spoil this moment?

"YARGH!"

Riku jumped to his feet, but he needn't have worried, nor was he the only one to overreact. Leo had sidled up to Sora and Ven, wanting food and attention so licking Sora's cheek and rumbling deep in his throat. Sora had jerked awake and yelped, making Ven yell out loud and in turn waking everyone else up. Terra sat bolt upright, Keyblade in hand and panting as though he'd just run a marathon. "What?" he shouted, making Aqua stir reluctantly.

"Oh… Leo!" they groaned in unison.

Leo had made a mad dash to hide behind Lea's chair, the noise startling him, and he now padded back to them, shamefaced and whining with hunger. Mel had sat bolt upright, wide eyed, and when she took in the scene before her, she curled up on her side and closed her eyes again. "Dreaming…" she murmured.

Leo scuttled over, and poked her with his forepaw, the way he had watched the others poke each other to get their attention. When she didn't respond, Leo put a foot on her chest and rolled her over onto her back and stuck his nose against her stomach, blowing what sounded like a raspberry.

"All right, I'm up." She groaned, dragging herself up. Leo nudged her in the stomach again with his shout, and she hugged his neck while he lifted her up onto her feet. "Thanks, Leo," she rubbed his neck down, and he rumbled with approval.

That day, once they had recovered from a night of awkward sleeping angles and eaten a hearty breakfast of porridge (Ven insisted it was really gruel) Aqua set them all loose on the newly built obstacle course. Riku always maintained that he wasn't as easily swayed or pleased by things as Sora, but when Terra showed them the course that he and Ven has built, not just for them but for Leo as well, he felt like a kid on Christmas Day. He raced Sora to the starting line and ran straight into the course head first, whooping loudly. It was supposed to be an exercise in balance, communication, and trust; it ended as a game to see who could stay standing the longest.

At the centre of the obstacle course was a sort of giant jungle gym with uneven surfaces at varying heights that made you work hard to reach the viewing platforms above. Because of the nature of the structure, and because there were so many of them, they had to lend a hand every so often to make sure everyone reached the same destination. Riku and Sora had to stop to help Mel and Kairi up on a number of occasions because they weren't tall enough to reach the handholds. Leo at first went around unseating everyone, until he figured out the aim of the game they were playing, and then he started helping out. Sora and Riku collided on a corner, having not seen each other and both attempting to run in stealth mode; Riku lost his footing and went over the edge of the platform. Before Sora could finish yelling his name Leo had launched himself off a nearby platform and grabbed Riku with his front legs. He glided with difficulty to the nearest horizontal pole, and wrapped his tail around it so they were hung upside down like a bat. After the shock and confusion wore off (it had happened too fast to really keep up) they all thought it was hilarious, and Sora and Ven became reckless with their own antics so that when they inevitably pitched over the edge Leo bounded after them.

When they eventually came down to the ground they found Aqua had been keeping a tally of who had fallen and who had been saved by Leo. The one with the least tallies won, and that happened to be Terra who hadn't fallen once. His reward was a bar of chocolate presented by Mickey, which he promptly broke apart and handed out to his fellow apprentices.

The sun was shining weakly through the threatening clouds, so they stayed outside a bit longer while Aqua discussed something deep and meaningful with Yen Sid just out of earshot. Talk turned from the training session to reminiscences of school and homework. They complained at length about the so-called 'hard subjects' like maths and sciences, and Sora moaned about the bane of his life: algebra. "Finding X is only useful if you're a pirate, anyway!"

"I really liked Literature." Mel said, hanging upside down from a gummi beam so her hair looked like an inverted golden flame. "And art. Everyone says it's a soft subject, but-"

"It's so damn _hard_." Sora complained. "I could never keep up with the homework, and our teacher didn't like me…"

"It's the _volume_ of work you do in art." Kairi said curtly, annoyed that they were insulting her favourite subject.

"So, Mel," Lea said loudly, attracting her attention towards him and away from Leo who was also hung upside down and pulling faces at them. "What was _your_ school like?"

"I've been world hoping for years, so I never really did formal schooling. But I know enough to get by, and I can learn everything I need here,"

"What year would you be in if you were at school?" Ven asked nonchalantly

"I wouldn't." Mel blinked, surprised.

"Huh?"

"Mel, how old are you?" Riku asked, struck by a sudden thought.

"Twenty-four."

"What?!" it wasn't just Ven who was amazed, it was Sora and Lea too. Leo was so startled by the outburst he fell from the pole with a yelp.

"You're _older_ than us?" Sora said, completely in awe that she could possibly look so young and still be his senior.

"Yes, I suppose so." Mel looked startled. It clearly hadn't occurred to her that her age was that big a deal to them.

"How is that possible?!"

"Because…she was born first?" Riku pointed out.

After the shock of realising Mel was only a bit younger than Ven, they went on with the topic of school, and it ended with Mel admitting, "I never really liked Maths, or doing equations and calculations in science. I'm not very good with numbers…"

Lea laughed loudly and said, "Girls rarely are. Or driving, or reading maps." Aqua had returned by that point, and she and Kairi gave him withering looks. "Just face the facts, girls! Men have a superior spatial awareness." He made a show of inspecting his nails, cool as you please.

A chunk of gummi block came flying out of nowhere and struck him on the side of the head. Everyone blinked, and turned to look at Leo, who was standing on his hind legs next to a pillar that had just had a mouthful ripped out of it's side. His tail swung from side to side pleasantly, and he cocked his head to one side innocently, his eyes as wide as he could possibly make them.

"Wow!" Ven said loudly into the silence. "You should've seen _that _one coming!"

From her perch Mel said quietly, "Maybe he has spatial needs?"

Lea tried to pull her down from the pole in revenge, fuming while the others fell about laughing, but Leo pounced on him, snarling. "You gotta be kidding me!" he snapped as he sized the dragon up. Leo's lips were curled back over his teeth, exposing his wicked looking teeth, and his wings flapped menacingly like a gigantic bat's. Of the four canines in his top jaw, one set was longer than the others, and looked a lot like a pair of fangs. "This little punk needs to be taught some manners!"

Leo threw his head back and went up on his hind legs, sucking in breath, and when he landed his front paws on the ground again he roared defiantly at Lea, in a gesture that clearly said 'Bring it on if you think you're hard enough'.

They weren't expecting that sort of reaction from Leo, and they weren't expecting what happened next either; the roar seemed to paralyse them all. Riku had just enough time to see Kairi and Sora reaching up to cover their ears like he was before they all fell to the ground, twitching. Leo's roar reverberated through everything around them – the air, the posts, even the earth seemed to tremble. Then again, _everything_ felt like it was buzzing even after the roar ended, so Riku thought it was probably just messing with his senses.

When they all managed to sit up again, Leo was curled up beside Mel like an overgrown cat, licking his ruffled feathers like nothing had happened.

"That's one for the book, I think." Terra said listlessly.

Riku didn't see what the problem was until he noticed that nearest sections of the jungle gym had collapsed. He stared at Leo, who was now licking Mel's face to get her to sit up.

Maybe, _just_ maybe, this bundle of feathers was a force to be reckoned with. As they slowly collected themselves again and surveyed the damage, Riku thought about Leo's somewhat lethal looking teeth, and the revelation that he had the power to paralyse them just by roaring.

"I'm glad he's tied to the Keyblade." He said to Terra, helping to put the course back up again. "I wouldn't want Leo as an enemy."

"Lea needs to watch his step," Terra remarked, watching them closely.

Lea was skirting around him, and Leo sat up snarling loudly, teeth exposed. "All right! I'm going, I'm going!"

Leo snorted satisfactorily before curling up like a cat and promptly falling asleep, as though he hadn't just wrecked the assault course by roaring.

XOXOX

**AN: If you have the time please leave me a review and let me know what you think! :)**


	4. The Art of Flying

**AN: hello again! :) according to the traffic stats quite a few people are reading this story but I haven't had any feedback yet – seriously, if my writing sucks that much let me know so I can improve! I'll take any criticism/advice/suggestions on board, so if you have the time please leave a review and give me your thoughts. Thanks! :D**

_**The Art of Flying**_

"Okay, ready?" Aqua shouted over the noise of the wind.

"Ready!" Ven yelled back from his glider. Terra was positioned below the cliff face they were standing on, and Mel was coaxing Leo towards the edge.

"Come on, Leo!" she said, waving a gummi block wrapped in bacon at him temptingly. "Come on, boy! Let's go flying!"

Another week of lying comatose, and Leo's wings had exploded in length, along with his appetite. This, and the fact that his feathers were now identical to the diagrams in the book, meant that now he could fly properly. For once, the book was yielding useful information to them and Aqua had chosen a particularly windy day a week before Halloween to start his lessons. It was very simple: Mel would take the plunge to get Leo to follow her, and she would be caught by Terra; they and Ven would be with him every step of the way in the air, and Aqua would watch from the ground with the book to shout directions at them. If they needed the back up, she would join them in the air, but she was confident the three of them would be just fine.

"When you're ready, Mel!" Aqua called, checking the book again. It seemed to have an air of carelessness towards the dragons, and often referred to them as 'those creatures', and insisted the best way to teach was by throwing them in the deep end. Instead, they were going jump into the deep end with him.

Leo looked somewhat hesitant at the idea of running off a cliff; he had managed to glide quite well around his playground, and down the main staircase in the castle, but he had yet to actually fly. Mel flapped her arms and ran in a circle, showing him what to do; Aqua could see her from her vantage point on a nearby pillar of stone, and they were hoping to get him to fly around it so she could call out instructions.

After a while, Mel threw the gummi block over the edge of the cliff and pelted after it. Leo yelped with distress and ran after her; Ven waited until Mel had actually jumped and was falling through the air before he set off, so that he and Leo cleared the edge at the same time. Mel landed behind Terra on his glider, and they shot forth out of the way as Leo tumbled down after them, screaming.

Aqua bit her lip, crossing as many fingers as possible; Leo screamed and tumbled downwards, not catching the updraft fast enough. Ven threw his hands up and conjured a magical wind that got under his wings, and they flared open. Suddenly, he was rushing upward, Terra following hard on his tail.

"Good!" Aqua yelled. "Get him to try and hover on the wind!"

They went through some simple manoeuvres, which he slowly completed successfully. First was to hover, which he managed with much twitching and complaining; his tail fins were buffeted by the strong wind and it seemed a real struggle for him to stay in one place. Second, they tried flying in a circle around Aqua's perch, and he found this much easier though it was still a clumsy flight. Terra and Ven showed him the direction, and they all called encouragingly to him to keep his spirits up. After flying first clock-wise, and then counter-clock-wise, they managed to get a few loops out of him before attempting some of the more difficult manoeuvres. By the time they touched back down in the courtyard back at home, they were all exhausted, but satisfied with the progress they had made. Leo slept right the way through supper and didn't stir until the following morning, when he chased them around begging to go flying again.

Since they started him off in high winds, when the weather died down he was exceptionally good and even faster because he wasn't battling against the ever-changing direction of wind. Come Halloween, Leo was flying as though he had been doing it his whole life.

Aqua found something else out, too; Leo could use his clawed paws like hands, and he had a knack for art. She found Ven and Mel scribbling on the doodle wall in the common room. Or, to be more precise, Ven was scribbling, and Mel was sketching five beautiful portraits into the wall using charcoal, among other doodles and sketches that were clearly not Ven's. She was drawing their faces, and they were so realistic she was almost expect them to move; Ven's infectious grin, Leo's inquisitive stare, Aqua with her eyes closed laughing, Terra with a soft smile, and Mel herself looking slightly dazed. Aqua came in just as Mel was finishing the picture of Leo, and they moved to the fireside to place candles in the jack o'lanterns they had made earlier. They were talking, laughing, admiring each other's carvings (Mel had made an extremely complicated and beautiful one of a tiger on her pumpkin) when Terra came into the room and said, "Err, guys? Have you seen this?"

Leo had been watching them playing with the chalk, and while they had been moving the pumpkins around he had taken a stick of bright pink chalk and drawn a huge smiley face. Then he had taken an orange piece and drawn spikes coming out of the top for hair, before crushing two blue sticks to make the eyes. He thumped his tail against the wall, tongue lolling out like a happy dog on his hind legs.

"What are we going to do with you…?" Aqua sighed, smiling nonetheless.

Then he dropped to all fours and Leo started making odd noises like he was trying to speak. It sounded like he was trying to say the word 'error'.

"Ehh-raaahh!"

"What's he doing?" Terra asked, reaching over to scratch his neck. Leo dodged out of the way, snaking his head neatly out of reach, and said it again.

"Ehhraah!"

He looked annoyed, and sat down on the floor, making clicks with his tongue.

"What…?" Ven began.

"I think he's trying to figure out how to sound something." Aqua reasoned.

Leo managed to go from a 'Kuh' sound at the back of his mouth to a 'Tuh' sound by pressing his tongue against his front teeth, and then he bounced to his feet and said loudly and forcefully, "Tehh-raaaahh!"

"Whoa!"

"Did you just here that?!"

"Clever boy!" Mel cooed, hugging him. "Hey look! He was drawing a picture of you!"

Terra laughed. "I didn't know I'd gone ginger!"

There weren't any brown chalk sticks in the box, so Leo had made do with what had been available. The revelation that he _could_ talk, although haltingly so, was big news to Yen Sid, who came to see for himself. Leo would never talk like they could, because his mouth and tongue were all the wrong shape, but he could sound out simple words, and Terra's name was only the first. When he wanted something, he communicated through body language, and they knew by now which cries and grunts meant he was hungry, in pain, or deliriously happy. But after he had learnt to say Terra's name, Leo used it to address him and get his attention.

By the time Yen Sid had arrived in a hurry, Leo was trying to say Aqua's name, and he watched in amazement as the dragon slowly spelled out the sounds before knitting them together to form the word.

"Ahh-koo-waaaaah," eventually modulated into, "Ahh-kwahh!"

Ventus and Melody were a bit much for him to master; he couldn't get the 'muh' and 'vuh' sounds, so he ended up substituting to make up for it. Ven was referred to as "Ehhn-tuhsssss," and Mel was christened "Ehhhl,"

Yen Sid took some of their earlier writings to study, and suggested that in due course they write their own book on Dragon Care, since they were doing such a fantastic job with Leo. Considering they had been fumbling around in the dark, it was almost unbelievable, and Aqua blushed at the high praise.

After Halloween the weather became stormy, and they stayed inside where Aqua started work on a saddle for Leo. Sora and the gang dropped by a couple of times and threw their hand in to help; a strong base model made from gummi blocks that Riku and Sora spent hours perfecting, which they then covered with a soft cotton padding underneath a tailor made leather casing (courtesy of Kairi and Mel). The connecting loops and buckles that would keep the saddle and rider on were more complicated, and they spent days trying to figure out from the sketches in the box how to attach them.

In the end, they made it up as they went along and made the loops encircle Leo's front legs, connected by a buckle in between that sat on his breastbone. Terra fitted another around his middle, and decided against fitting another two loops to his back legs – he wouldn't be able to move freely with those. They had to wait for the storms to pass before they could test the saddle, so in the mean time they made as many modifications as they could to it.

Ven and Terra spent a whole day making a harness for the rider to wear, so two strong sections of leather strips twisted together with clips at the end could be hooked onto the harness. The theory was, if you were unseated you could still clamber back on, and you wouldn't fall to your doom. Terra reminded them that it was just a _theory_, as Ven started to get a little ahead of himself.

The final storm was quite ferocious, but even so Aqua found Leo and Terra sat before the front doors, watching the tempest rage outside. She silently sat beside Terra, who put an arm around her wordlessly. Leo cooed in greeting, not tearing his eyes away from the spectacular display of lightning playing across the sky. She fell asleep on his shoulder, and woke up the next morning in her bed, glorious sunshine filtering through the window.

It made her stop and think while they were preparing Leo for his first manned flight. Something in Terra's manner had changed; he was incredibly soft with his words and actions, especially to her and Mel. Ven didn't get the same treatment, but then again he didn't endear himself to Terra very much these days. As Aqua watched him give Mel a leg up onto Leo's back, and then go through the straps with her, checking they were secure and making sure she was clipped in and her legs were in the stirrups, she wondered when the change had happened.

Ven walked past and asked what was wrong, and she voiced her thoughts to him in low tones. Ven laughed and said, "You only just noticed?"

"What?" she blinked.

"He's been pretty much like that since we came back here together." Ven said. "You only just noticed?"

Aqua was so surprised; she barely took in Leo's first flight with a rider on his back. He and Mel jumped off the cliff edge and rocketed into the air while Aqua sat on the ground, feeling dazed. Was Ven right? Had she been so wrapped up in her duties as Master that she had failed to see the changes in her best friend? She had _thought_ she was letting go and loosening up somewhat, especially when it came to caring for Leo; he seemed to take up most of her time, and she did more dragon handling than Keyblade lessons. She had also thought she had been focusing on her friends instead of her duties from time to time…was it possible she had just become fixated on one thing instead of another, and made herself blind to everything else? So rather than actually letting loose with her friends, she had just been focusing on the apparent 'task at hand' of being with her friends…when had her view on reality become so warped?

"Hey, aren't you coming too?" Terra asked, breaking through her revery.

Aqua smiled at him shyly, and let him help her to her feet. "Let's fly!" she said suddenly, racing him to the cliff edge. Like _hell_ she was going to make the same mistake again! This time, she was really going to have _fun_.

"Cheater!" he shouted at her, laughing.

After Mel they took it in turns to ride Leo, with Mel hitching a ride on the gliders. She had given up trying to summon her own, but now that Leo was flying and they had a fully functioning saddle; it didn't really matter anymore (they collectively announced the saddle as a smashing success, since all the straps and clips held up, and even when Terra tested the safety lines he didn't fall). Leo exulted in his new freedom, and shared it generously with them; they had rigged a bridle of sorts that went around the base of his neck, but they didn't really have to use it – mainly because Leo did his own thing. Aqua didn't steer at all; she just let him do what he wanted (she wasn't sure how the bridle was supposed to work anyway). All she did was lean with him as he twisted and turned in the air, roaring with pleasure at the clear azure sky above them. Mel found that he responded just fine to taps on his shoulder, and to a hand being placed to signify the desired direction.

They were still buzzing with talk about the outing that evening as dinner approached. Ven had done a corkscrew with Leo, and flown up into the clouds before diving headfirst straight down to the ground, wings unfurled at the last moment and levelling out to just skim the tree tops. He wouldn't shut up about it. Terra found Aqua staring out of a window, wrapped up in her own thoughts while Ven ran down the corridor with Leo, and Mel following at a more sedate pace but with a happy grin nonetheless – a rarity for her.

"What's with you today?" Terra asked. "You keep spacing out. You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" she said, avoiding his gaze. When he kept pestering her with questions, she eventually gave in and admitted, "It's just…I feel like I've been taking myself too seriously recently. It didn't hit me until I saw you helping Mel onto Leo that I realised how much you've changed." She waited for his response, and had to look up when he didn't.

Terra was staring at her dumbly. When he found his voice again, he said, "I've changed?" he looked worried.

"I just meant that you…" she struggled to find words to convey what she had seen in him. "Seem a lot calmer, and softer in your words and actions. And I didn't even realise it until yesterday. And it makes me feel like I've been walking around with my eyes closed all this time." She bit her lip, waiting for her words to sink in, and wondering if she should have said nothing at all now.

Terra just stared at her until Ven came running down the corridor by himself, totally focused on his own mission. "Ven!" Terra called to him, and he skidded to a halt.

"What?"

"Have I gotten softer?"

"What?" Ven stared at him with an equally blank expression. "You only just noticed? Seriously?"

Terra's mouth worked like a fish's out of water; no sound came.

"Anyway, gotta go!" and he was off again, rounding the corner and disappearing from sight.

XOXOX

Mel noticed things had become awkward between Terra and Aqua, but she kept her thoughts to herself. It wasn't her place to comment, and she had resolved to only give help when asked for it. It was one of the rules her branch of magic adhered to, though she often offered to or hinted at people when she thought they weren't going to ask. Instead, she played the waiting game and eventually after a couple of days Terra came to find her and solicit her opinion. Aqua had already wondered across her and asked if she was unbalanced; Mel had done a little energy clearing, and given her a piece of garnet to carry so she stayed grounded. She seemed much happier in herself by the time Terra had come to Mel.

The weather was about to change again, and it was going to get a _lot_ colder. Mel wanted Leo to have as much exercise outdoors before the cold set in – she had been idly plucking cards from her deck and the same symbols for cold and water kept appearing side by side. Ven confirmed that they often had deep snow during the winter, and it was possible to get snow in the autumn. Reading the horizon could be difficult here with the surrounding mountains and trees, but Mel scraped her weather lore together and deduced that they would see the first snowfall before December. Leo was scrambling around on his climbing frame when Terra caught up with her.

"Hey!" he called, shivering in his short sleeves.

"You should put a jumper on," she said, handing him the blanket she had brought for Leo. "It's a bit nippy."

"Thanks,"

They sat watching Leo, and she waited for Terra to ask the first question. It didn't take long, and he said, "I wanted your opinion on something."

She smiled at his choice of words. "O. Kay. Shoot." She said.

Terra chuckled and ruffled her hair playfully. "Ven and Aqua think I've gone soft,"

"What do you think?"

"I dunno. I hadn't really thought about it until she mentioned it, now I don't know anymore."

"Did you know before?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Nope."

"I think what they meant was that, your demeanour has softened. I don't know because I only met you a couple of months ago, but I've noticed a shift in your energy too."

"Really? Like what?"

"Its like…" Mel struggled to find the right words, as she always did. When she opened herself up to the subtle vibrations in the air around her, it was like tasting colours; you felt rather than saw, and heard rather than tasted. It was a very difficult thing to describe to someone who had never felt it for themselves – all those otherworldly sensations while you could still feel the clothes on your back and the earth at your feet. "Everyone has an aura, a field of energy around them. And when you're really happy it gets bigger. And when you're sad it gets smaller. You can control its size consciously if you know how, and if you stand in someone else's field you can start picking up on their mood, or even pick up a headache they're nursing. You and the others always seem to be quite spread out, so I end up standing in them a lot of the time. And it's like…I can feel the different colours of light coming off each of you, and yours is getting brighter…but softer as well, if that makes sense."

Judging by his expression, he didn't. Terra radiated confusion, so Mel tried to elaborate.

"You know light can be bright, but it can be harsh as well? It stings your eyes to look at it. But a light can be strong without being harsh. Sort of like…an uneven lump of wood that's being carved into a ball, all the rough edges are being chipped away – all the things that weigh you down are being stripped away piece by piece."

They were silent for a while: Terra brooding, and Mel watching Leo tightrope walk across a high beam. His tail helped him to balance, and he kept his wings tucked right up so the wind didn't blow him over. He wasn't worried about their conversation – he was solely focused on his balance, making sure everything was in equilibrium.

Mel felt prompted to say something when it became apparent that Terra was getting tangled in a web of darkened thought. "Did I say something wrong?"

He instantly brightened and laughed, which was a relief. "No. You've given me food for thought. I guess it makes sense…" he looked at the ground, making a fist. "I'm…not very proud of some of the things I've done…and the things I couldn't stop from happening."

"We all feel like that." Mel said, her own light flickering for a moment. "If a person can honestly say they've never done something they regretted, they are either incredibly young in which case they shouldn't be able to speak yet, or they have lived in a sheltered dream world." Her past started calling to her again, but she closed her eyes and shook her head, almost violently. _Not now_…she pleaded; she couldn't help Terra if she was fighting her own demons. She wasn't ready to look at that road, to talk freely to her new friends. There was enough of their own darkness to deal with, without her adding her own woes to their burden; that and the constant unknown surrounding Leo kept them all busy.

"That makes sense." Terra said, unaware of her inner monologue.

"There's no good and evil." Mel said, remembering something her grandfather had told her, years ago – in another lifetime. His words more than anything else were often the only thing that could keep her going. "You can't put a label on someone – only their actions. People are too complicated for one category. That's the burden you bear and the price you pay for your heart."

"It's what connects us all." Terra said slowly, looking up at Leo, who was performing a slow and graceful dance on the beam, his wings outstretched now to catch the breeze.

"The shadows," she murmured. "They grow darkest in a heart that burns brightest."

"Huh?"

"People try to think of analogies to explain philosophy. And I heard a really good way to describe why people are so complicated, using light."

"Okay, let's hear it then." Terra said encouragingly.

Mel smiled up at him; she could see what drew Ven and Aqua to him – he was the _perfect_ big brother. "If you put a light in the middle of an empty room, it fills the walls, but there's no character or personality, because there's nothing in the room. When you start adding furniture, and pictures on the walls, you get personality, and it casts different shapes and shadows on the walls, and in different colours too. The stronger the light you have in the room, the darker the shadows become. And because every room is different, in size and shape and contents, so is every person. You can live in light and darkness, but you can't live in only one of them. You can't see what you're doing when you're in the dark, and pure light is so blinding you can't see anything either. When you blend them together, you can see the depth of life around you." Mel paused, again wondering if she had said too much, but Terra was absorbing her words with interest.

"You'll make a great Master one day." He said eventually.

"I'd like to be a Master, like my grandfather." She admitted. "He said I already have the mysterious air down." He'd also told her she was uniquely special, among the very special people. She had never thought about it much, because she didn't feel any more special than anyone else, but upon reflection Mel wondered if he had had an inkling that Leo would come into her life one day.

Terra chuckled. "You do seem to fit the job description. Thanks, Melody. That's taken a weight off my mind."

"Any time."

Terra stood up and for a moment hung there, irresolute with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Mel wanted to say something, but she felt she possibly shouldn't at this point; she had said enough. When he had taken the first few steps away from her back towards the castle, her inner voice called out after him from her heart – against her mind's better judgement – and she listened to it.

"Terra!"

"Yes?" he said, turning to look at her.

"I don't know what happened," she said, taking a deep breath, "but you're a good person. And good people are the ones who have bad things happen to them, and they still pull through the other side as nice as they were before. I just wanted you to know that."

Her inner voice, the intuitive side of her being that resonated from her heart, had yet to lead her wrong; even if she didn't always understand for herself the importance it had, her words often left people feeling positively. It was a bit of a surprise to find Terra dissolving into silent tears at this, but his field spiked happily, as if he had needed to hear those words from an impartial judge. She walked over and gave him a reassuring hug, and Leo floated down to them on silent wings to join in. He nearly knocked them over with his weight, but Terra appreciated the emotional support. He didn't say anything, and neither did she; Leo cooed at the back of his throat, quite content.

When they at last made their way back up to the castle, Terra said in a more composed voice, "If you mention this to the others I'll clip your keyblades and throw the chakra bag into the stream."

'Keyblade clipping' was something he and Ven used to do to when they were younger to make each other late for lessons – it as a sticky business that left an awful lot of mess. Mel's leather pouch that contained a stone for each chakra was incredibly important to her, and had become a target for playful blackmail. Really, Terra would _never_ do something like that, nor would Ven; it was done for dramatic effect and to emphasise Terra's wish that it stayed strictly between them.

Mel met his gaze steadily, and in the gravest voice she could muster said, "Verily."

XOXOX

Aqua had decided to give Ven some responsibility, and announced one day in mid-November that he was going to lead a mission to a new world, and he would be taking care of Mel and Leo. This came after she announced that Kairi was going to Yen Sid for some additional training, and Aqua was placing Riku in charge of watching Terra and Sora. This was only technical, since Riku was a Master in his own right and like Aqua he rejected any mention of it adamantly. She smiled and said, "Riku's the Master, but you're in charge as the eldest, Terra. Keep them out of trouble?"

"Oh, I'll _try_," he pretended to sigh heavily and shake his head.

Ven was thrilled to be travelling again, and he managed to infect Mel with his excitement too; Leo didn't need much encouragement, he was already hyper when he found out they were going somewhere new. Aqua wanted them to scout out for the heartless, which were apparently beginning to stir their stumps more and more. They all congregated early in the morning, and Ven and Mel would be leaving first – mainly because Leo couldn't contain his excitement and they wanted minimal damage to contend with.

Mel suited herself up first, and then Leo before climbing onto his back. His armour had thankfully expanded to accommodate for his growth, and covered most of his body except for his wings and tail fin – the long bony limbs from which grew the feathers were sheathed in armour that was shaped to allow him to fly easily, and kept his feathers fully exposed to the air so he could glide through the Lanes Between. Ven summoned his own armour and glider, and they were all set to go. Aqua waved them off as they departed, smiling and shouting at them to take care. She had tried to impress upon him the fact that she wanted to treat him like the adult he now was, while wanting to mollycoddle and protect him like a child; if anything went wrong she was going to first throttle him, then keep all three of them under lock and key in the castle.

Ven led the way, with Leo half a step behind him, weaving through the space between the worlds. They were just meant to scout out for heartless activity, which meant they could go to any world they wanted. Mel had given up her choice in favour and return for monopolising Leo as a mount; he had decided after having given everyone a fair share of rides that he would only be Mel's mount, so to balance it out she had given Ven free reign to choose were to go. He just floated along until they came across one that caught his eye, and he signalled to Mel where he was going. Leo dived gracefully after him and together they entered the new world.

At first, all they could see was an ocean, but land loomed on the horizon so they headed for it. "Doing okay?" Ven shouted over the wind.

"Great!" Mel had to yell to make herself heard. Leo roared with high spirits.

Just as they were approaching the island, they were weaving their way around a maze of huge stone monoliths and stacks jutting up from the water, when from above they heard a tremendous roar. Leo jerked and nearly lost his balance; Ven turned just in time to see something hurtling out of the heavens just before it collided with him.

"Leo! Mel!"

Then he stopped in his tracks; it was _another_ _dragon_. This one was large, lean, and scaly with red and black markings, a pair of twisted horns, and a rider wearing crude battle armour and shouting directions. Leo brought his wings in and plummeted downward to escape, and then rocketed up, throwing his attacker off balance. Ven raced after him, and he heard from below a shout of, "Get them! Look, there's another one!" the red dragon pursued them doggedly, and from nowhere came another attacker – with _two_ heads! This one was acid green, with two riders who seemed to be fighting each other as much as Leo – that would make it easier for Ven to get rid of them.

Leo did a sudden loop, twisting into a spiralling corkscrew that made the other dragons crash into each other, and Ven followed suit, letting gravity pull him from harms way. They had practised defensive manoeuvres by chasing Leo and throwing attacks at him with their keyblades, and he'd proved to be as good at dodging as Mel, and a far more aggressive fighter (Terra had landed face first in the stream after Leo decided he'd had enough for playing tag). Ven pulled upright and swerved as Leo started flying upward again, and yelled, "Head for the forest!"

They streaked across the water, taking care to stay higher than the other dragons so they couldn't be dive-bombed or taken by surprise. They were easy to dodge, even when they started belching great balls of fire, but it was still a much-unwanted distraction. The riders seemed to be arguing; especially the ones on the two headed dragon, and Ven guessed they were amateurs. Still, this was the sort of thing he would have to cope with as a Master one day – he was now responsible for the other two, and he had to get them to safety. He also didn't want Aqua to worry about them; this surely would be easy compared to other trials they would have to face – their attackers were clearly disorganised and completely dysfunctional.

The red dragon rose, trying to cut Ven off from Leo, and suddenly _another_ dragon swooped down, this one blue with a sandy coloured underbelly. The person on its back was shrieking something at the others, and before Ven had time to react another arrived, this time black and emitting a ball of purple energy that formed into a fireball. It was aimed at no one in particular, but everyone had to swerve out of the way – Leo dived past the new comers and Ven followed, throwing up a magic palling around them all to deflect stray fireballs.

They were close to the island, and Leo hurtled into the trees for shelter. Sadly, they were spotted and chased, though the forest offered them shelter. Leo landed heavily and skidded in the dirt, running a few paces over a rise in the land and then flew over the clearing beyond before spinning around and flapping back the way he had come. He deliberately crashed into Ven, who fell across his back behind Mel; when he looked up he saw Leo was flying back over the point where he had first landed, and then he touched down far away from the spot, leaving all the evidence that they had continued over the side of the hill.

"Who taught him that?" Ven asked Mel, and she shrugged blankly.

Leo bounded through the undergrowth, and came to a halt at the edge of a rocky clearing. He ran to a large over hang and stood his ground, shaking and growling with exertion. Ven and Mel slid off his back, removing their helmets, and he swept them behind him with his wings. It took less time than it should have for them to be found; the black dragon landed in the clearing, and a surprisingly small rider jumped off it's back. They were joined by the blue dragon, whose rider even from this distance was definitely a girl.

"Those _idiots!_" she ranted, shaking a fist at the forest behind them.

Ven stepped around Leo's wing, and he allowed him to pass. "Who are you?" Ven demanded. "And what's the meaning of trying to drive us out of the sky?"

"I am so sorry," said the smaller of the two figures, and he pulled his helmet off. He was a small, lanky looking teen with dark hair and freckles. Not the sort of hardened warrior you would have expected after that display… "Those guys got a bit over excited, and they _are_ total idiots," he was making his way over, treading carefully and holding his arms out to show he had no weapons. Ven relaxed slightly, and Mel ducked out from under Leo's wing to see what was happening.

"So, this your dragon?" the boy asked pleasantly, looking over Leo with an appreciative eye. "Fine looking specimen!"

Leo snorted and turned his head to one side, glowering at him with one golden eye, lips curled.

"It's okay! We're not gonna hurt you," he said, throwing his helmet to one side. "I'm Hiccup. What're your names?"

"I'm Ventus," he said, pointing at himself. "This is Melody, and Leo."

"Well, nice to meet you! I'm Hiccup, this is Astrid, and over there's Stormfly and Toothless."

Ven tentatively stepped forward and shook the boy's hand.

"I'm sorry about the others," he said again, just before the red dragon crashed into the clearing, his rider yelling something. "Snotlout! Stop!" Hiccup shouted, putting himself between them.

Ven raised his hand and summoned his Keyblade; Mel came to his side, holding both of hers in the ready position. Hiccup tried to diffuse the situation, but the two headed dragon who hadn't heard the memo came tumbling over the top of the overhang and landed on Leo. With the chaos that ensued, the red dragon lunged for him as well, and Hiccup's black dragon ran to Leo's aid while Hiccup himself and the girl shouted for order. Ven smacked one of the riders in the mouth with the guard of his Keyblade, and Mel unseated the other so they landed in a bush with a thud.

Leo had reared onto his hind legs when the dragon had attacked, and now had his teeth in the throat of the red one, swinging it around so it crashed into the rock face with a sickening crunch. It got woozily to its feet before toppling over onto its side. The two-headed dragon simultaneously snapped at the smaller black dragon and tried to throttle Leo – but he wasn't having any of it. He reared onto his hind legs again and inhaled deeply.

"Cover your ears!" Ven shouted at Hiccup.

He barely had time to register Ven's words before Leo bellowed his paralysing roar that brought them all to their knees. The entire forest shook from it, and Ven felt his body hum with the energy Leo emitted, though he found his armour offered some level of protection since his limbs didn't cease up like they had before. Leo snorted with satisfaction when everyone had keeled over and didn't get up, and sauntered off to pick Mel up by the scruff of her neck with his teeth before offering his tail to Ven to help him to his feet.

When the others finally came around, Ven apologised to Hiccup, who was watching Leo with amazement and admiration. "That's some power he's got, there!"

The other teens turned out to be part of an academy Hiccup ran, to train dragons. The ones on the two-headed dragon turned out to be twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and the one on the red dragon was Hiccup's cousin, Snotlout. Ven couldn't help but think they were all odd names, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he let Hiccup take them to their village on the other side of the island, and explain about the world they were in.

"This is Berk," he gestured grandly at the collection of wooden houses on the slopes of the island. There were lots of people, and all sorts of dragons besides the ones in their party. "The war with the dragons ended a while ago, and now they live here with us."

"Wow…" Mel watched, wide eyed as they passed a woman and a much smaller dragon without wings weaving a blanket on a loom together.

"Over there's the academy," Hiccup pointed towards a stone structure suspended over the water. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yeah!" Ven said excitedly. He noted that the black dragon was wearing a sort of harness with a bright red fin attached to its tail. It had the same sort of structure as Leo's, but with a thin membrane of skin instead of feathers. In fact, none of the dragons they saw had feathers; Leo was attracting a lot of odd looks. And so were Ven and Mel – their clothes stood out in the midst of all the rough woollen garments. It was also bitterly cold; Mel pulled out extra clothing from her satchel and they hastily pulled on the warm knitted clothes. They both belonged to Mel, but she owned a particularly large and baggy hoody made from soft, dyed wool that fit Ven perfectly. It had a pattern of waves on it in black, white and grey that matched the long cardigan garment she was now wearing, the same one she had worn when she had first arrived with Mickey.

"So, what's with the harness on him?" Ven asked pointing at the black dragon.

"Oh, his tail's damaged. I built him this so he could fly again, and we fly together."

"Cool!" Ven was impressed at the ingenuity behind the contraption.

Hiccup showed them the arena that served as the academy, the other students trailing behind and grumbling. "They're just upset Leo beat them." Hiccup said, grinning. "Viking's tend to be sore losers."

"How about a rematch?" said one of the twins, but they started bickering amongst themselves about _who_ would fight the rematch. How exactly had they been driven out of the sky by this lot again?

Snotlout challenged Ven to a duel, angry that he had been beaten, but Ven was reluctant to humour him. He was little older than Hiccup, and though they were all clearly much stronger than Hiccup was physically, they were still just a bunch of kids. Their roughly hewn swords and axes wouldn't hold up against a Keyblade.

"Unless you're too _scared_," he jeered.

Ven raised an eyebrow, refusing to get riled up. "We didn't come here to fight." He tried reasoning, like Aqua.

"Yeah right! So what was all that earlier?"

"Um…" Mel cocked her head to one side as Leo snarled loudly, making them all take a step back. "You sort of dive bombed us out of no where. Leo was just defending himself."

Snotlout looked like he was about to pick a fight with her instead, but Leo took one menacing step forward, lips drawn back over his teeth, and he thought better of it.

"Really, we didn't come here to fight you." Ven said, turning to Hiccup. "We're looking for a creature called a 'heartless'. Have you seen anything suspicious around her recently?"

"Yeah, _you_!" said one of the twins rudely.

Hiccup shook his head. "Not that I've been aware of."

"Okay, that's good." He turned to Mel. "Guess we've got lucky this time."

Mel was about to speak when she suddenly spun round and stared at the gateway to the arena. A moment later someone came running through it, panting heavily and shouting for Hiccup.

"Fishlegs! What is it?"

"There's a monster in the village!" he screamed, waving his arms above his head. Where all the other youths were either lanky like Hiccup, or muscular and lean like Snotlout, this boy was built like a brick wall. "It's attacking everyone! The dragons can't seem to hurt it! DO SOMETHING!"

Mel and Ven turned to each other. "Sounds like a heartless!"

"Let's go,"

They pelted out of the arena, and Leo bounded after them. The others were probably not far behind. They found the source of the problem, and it was definitely a heartless; the huge creature looked like a monstrous bear with a single horn protruding from its forehead and a long thick tail fetched with blood red fur.

"It's a Behemoth!" Mel shouted over the noise of a house collapsing. "Aim for the horn!"

That was easier said than done as it kept whipping its head back and forth, skewering everything in its path and making the target too difficult to follow. Leo hesitated for a moment before he followed Ven; he had never seen a heartless before, and besides romping with the other Keyblade wielders and the skirmish earlier, he had never really fought a proper battle before. The heartless caught Mel with its tail, which forced Leo into the fray with a howl. He couldn't use his paralysing roar because that would incapacitate Mel and Ven, who weren't wearing their armour. Instead, he set about clawing at its face and eyes, trying to get his teeth into the horn. Mel threw thunder spells at it, which distracted it momentarily so Ven could get a bash at it; she dodged the swiping attacks from its paws with relative ease, and Ven managed to get behind it and onto its back. From there, he had to hang on while it threw Leo off and ran up the slope, roaring as loudly as the dragon. Ven worked his way up its back, clinging to the thick spines protruding from the violently coloured fur. When he made it to the head, he whistled to get Leo's attention; he responded by cannon balling into its face and clawing at its eyes, keeping it occupied. Mel managed to jump from the top of a nearby building and land just short of where Ven was standing. Together they hacked at the Behemoth's horn until it collapsed on the ground in a heap, where Ven dealt the finishing blow that made it disappear into nothingness, releasing a ball of energy into the sky that had once been a heart.

"Whew," he said, wiping his forehead. "That was kinda tough."

Mel looked around at the devastation left behind in the heartless' wake, and he saw the desolation in her eyes that he couldn't quite understand. He thought she was on the verge of tears when Hiccup and Toothless landed in the town square.

"Are you all right?" he yelled, running to meet them and slipping on a patch of ice.

"Yeah, we're fine! How are the towns people?" Ven asked. He suddenly noticed for the first time that Hiccup had a prosthetic leg, as it scraped unnaturally against the ice. He wondered how he hadn't noticed before.

"In the Great Hall. What _was_ that thing?"

"_That _was a heartless. They can't be defeated with ordinary weapons." Ven explained.

"What, you gotta use one of these?" one of the twins demanded, snatching Mel's chakra blade from her.

"Cool! Lemme see!" the other twin snatched her other Keyblade. They were amazed and disappointed when they flashed out of existence and reappeared in Mel's hands with a flurry of rippling light.

Ven laughed. "The Keyblades' are kinda particular about who they choose."

Mel caught his eye and shrugged, smiling weakly. "Temperamental."

"What's goin' on here?" someone said, and they turned to see a tall, beefy looking man with a knotted red beard marching into the scene of destruction. "Hiccup, care to explain?"

"Err, Ventus, Melody – this is Stoick, the chief of the village, and my dad. Look, dad I can explain,"

"Excuse me, Sir." Ven butted in, and explained about the heartless to him.

"So they come from the darkness in men's hearts?" he asked when he had finished.

"Yeah. Mel and I know how to defeat them. They tend to appear where there are a lot of people gathered."

"Will they come back?" the man looked concerned for his people.

"Its possible, but-"

Mel spoke over him, which was unusual for her – she rarely interrupted anyone. "As long as the light shines brightly in this place, the heartless won't manifest. Keep the light of your people strong, and they will be protected."

Stoick gave her a long, searching look, before he said, "You're a shaman, aren't ya? Never fear – we Vikings are tough and hardy, and we know how to be merry and bright!"

"Yeah," Hiccup muttered to himself. "When we're not trying to cut each other's throats…"

"Only our enemies, and only when they're stupid enough to attack us!" Stoick laughed with good cheer. "Ventus, Melody, and of course your dragon-?"

"Leo."

"And Leo. You three are welcome here whenever you please. Next time you pass through, be sure to stop and say hello!"

"Don't you want some help rebuilding?" Mel asked tentatively.

"Ha!" he clapped her on the shoulder, so hard her knees buckled. "Don't worry about it! Berk had been burnt to the ground before many times, but we always manage to build it back up into something even better,"

They said their goodbyes, and were pestered by the other teens to show them some moves and have a tournament next time they visited. Finally, they mounted Leo and set off over the ocean, waving goodbye to the Vikings who were all cheerful considering they had a whole village to rebuild. Mel was very quiet, and hardly noticed when Ven stood up on Leo's back and jumped off, summoning his glider.

"Mel!" he called. "Melody!"

"Huh?" she jerked out of her thoughts. "What is it?"

"Armour," he reminded her.

"Oh, yes – right…"

She was very quiet when they got back home, and Ven did all of the explaining to Aqua about what had happened. Leo was unusually quiet, and curled up on the floor next to Mel, crooning soothingly to her. She went as far as grabbing a bite to eat before the others returned and retiring to her room, saying she didn't feel well and would be skipping supper. They were having pasta that night – something was definitely wrong, but Aqua dissuaded Ven from pestering her.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, leave her alone for now. If there's something on her mind, she'll tell us when she's ready."

When Terra returned with Riku and Sora, he forgot about Mel for a moment as Sora was telling anyone who'd listen about their adventures that day; it sounded like Riku had gotten into a sticky mess – _literally_. He had been swallowed by a large pitcher plant of supernatural size that had tried to eat him alive. He was still covered in sticky goop and scowling at everyone who looked at him. Sora thought the story was brilliant, and told them all again and again what had happened while Riku stomped around in a foul temper. Terra had no heartless activity to report on, and wasn't too concerned that Mel was feeling unwell. Ven was hacked off that no one seemed bothered about her, but kept it to himself over dinner. He said goodbye to Sora and Riku and went to go find Mel to check on her, but she wasn't in her room.

The bathroom was empty when he went to check, and so was the library; she wasn't in the kitchen or the common room, and Ven lied to Aqua when she asked what he was doing. "Oh, I just wanted to ask her about something do to with that heartless today," he said nonchalantly, twirling the pen he'd pilfered from Aqua's desk in his hands. Mel had set a small notebook aside for mission observations, and he'd also taken that from Aqua's desk. She raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. Leo had also given up on Mel and was curled up by the fire, exhaling deeply to make a stray feather stay in the air. It kept whirling up towards the ceiling before floating gently down to the floor, only to have Leo blow it into the air again.

"Ven," Terra said loudly as he tried to leave the room.

"Yeah?" he said innocently. He scowled when Leo gave a bark of laughter and rolled onto his back lazily, tail whipping round like some huge and feathered python.

"Don't go asking questions she'd not ready to answer."

"Yeah, I know – I get it," he said irritably, storming out of the room.

Everywhere Ven looked, he found only empty rooms and starlit corridors. In the end, he went outside to get some fresh air and work some of his frustration out on the swinging targets. The clouds had drawn in and the starlight was obscured; it was bitterly cold, but the rigorous exercise kept him warm despite the temperature. After he had worked his aggravation out of his system, Ven was about to turn and head indoors when he heard something grate and crack loudly from the other side of a small hill to his right. Suspicious, he went to go check it out, and was amazed to see Mel really taking it out on a circle of tall stones and a post they had constructed from gummi blocks.

Ven carefully made his way towards the circle, keeping himself hidden from the light shining down from the three lamps placed at regular intervals. He was a bit frightened by the complete change he could see in her. Normally Mel was quiet, though she was becoming more confident vocally; she wouldn't hurt a fly, and they had to really encourage her to get aggressive when they fought together. When she practised, she was quick and agile, and prone to retreating rather than following through with a blow that could be devastating to her opponents defence. Now, she was beating the hell out of the stone targets, and trying to tear the gummi post down; she snarled with frustration and grunted with the force of her blows that were starting to shatter the rocks to pieces. He caught a glimpse of her expression as she flew past to strike another rock, and he saw her eyes were screwed tightly shut, teeth bared in a pained grimace. The sudden and complete transformation was unnerving.

Eventually she brought both of her blades down against the least battered rock, and it fractured completely into a pile of shingle. Mel threw her Keyblades away; one landed in the earth several feet away, and the other landed with a splintering crash that brought the post to the ground in a mass of fragmented pieces. She threw her head back and screamed at the dark sky, tears rolling freely down her cheeks before she collapsed to her knees, sobbing like her heart was broken.

Forgetting to be covert, Ven ran into the light and knelt beside her. "Mel! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She shook her head, biting back tears and failing to keep them damned up behind her eyes. It seemed her body would not be denied this chance to vent her emotions, and she cried passionately for what felt like hours, first clutching at her solar plexus and then reaching up to hide her face in her hands, before bringing them down to collide with the earth in fists. But eventually, the tide subsided, and she sat up, wiping her eyes and sniffing pitifully, gazing at the ground. Ven cast around for some tissues, but all he had was a single handkerchief. It was old, and he'd had it when he'd first arrived here to train – he didn't know where it came from, just that his initials were embroidered into the corner. He offered it to her wordlessly, and she took it after a moments hesitation.

Once she had sorted herself out, Ven said tentatively, "Wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know." Her voice sounded dull, like the life had gone from her. "I don't even know if it's worth it anymore."

"What is?"

She didn't say anything for a while. "I can't go on like this. I just…don't know what to do." She held the handkerchief tightly in her hands, like it was a lifeline. "I can't see clearly anymore. Nothing I ask or cast gives me answers I can understand."

"What caused this?" Ven pressed, waving at the scene of destruction around them.

Mel chanced a glance up and gulped. "I'm no better than they are," she said bitterly, dabbing at her eyes furiously.

"Who?"

"The heartless."

Ven blinked. "How can you say something like that? You're nothing like them!"

"I just destroyed all of this," she gestured at the ripped earth, the shattered boulders. "For no reason. I had no need or right, but I did it anyway. Just like them. They destroy everything they encounter to make up for their lack."

"But that's totally different!" Ven said, gently shaking her shoulder. He was _really_ worried about her now – this was so out of character for her. "They do that because they don't have hearts of their own! You've got a heart," he pointed at it. "You were just upset and angry about something. We all do – you should see Terra having a tantrum, he nearly brought the whole castle down once!" he watched closely, and her lips twitched slightly at the corners. "Look, you don't have to tell me what upset you, but I just want you to know – I'm here if you need me."

Mel looked up, her eyes bright with tears in the gloom, like two emerald beacons. "Thanks, Ven." She looked down again and sighed heavily, her whole body sagging. "I just…don't want to burden you all. My problems are my own, I shouldn't drag anyone else down with me. It's not fair."

"It's not fair to carry it all yourself." Ven replied, putting an arm around her, now he knew her violent urges had ceased completely. "I don't mind listening. And you know what they say: a problem shared is a problem halved." Ven got a small but genuine smile from her. He stood up and led her to a bench where they sat down; he looked up at the sky, and she at the ground.

"I guess…I never really forgave myself." She began slowly, twisting the ball of her foot into the dirt to make an imprint. "My family is…I don't know, not very harmonious. My biological father is…not a nice person. And my step dad died when my brother was still young. My mum had lots of health problems, and our cousin came to stay after his mother died and his father started getting physically abusive. My grandfather had to look after the town as well as our family, but we managed. Even after he died, I could still hold it together – it was his time, and he disappeared into the light. It was peaceful and dignified, everything I had wanted for him. He was so old… And he told me that things would change, and that one day the heartless would come for me because I could use a Keyblade. And when that day came, I had to leave to protect everyone. I…" she swallowed, and Ven took her trembling hand. "I didn't want to. I wanted to stay. My little brother…" she suppressed a sob. "He's always been young for his age. My father pitched up one day and my grandfather threw him out of the town and threatened to kill him if he ever laid a finger on us again. But…my brother was traumatised already, and all I could do was look after him. My cousin…he didn't want me to leave, he wanted me to stay, and I did too, but…I couldn't. I just left while my home was destroyed, and I saw my mum swallowed by the darkness." There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "I don't know what happened to her. If she died, if she became a heartless, if she survived. I don't know if anyone had survived. By the time I stopped running I realised I was in another world, and I didn't know how to get back. So I kept travelling. Wherever fate took me. I met lots of people, and I learnt so many things I would never have learnt if I had stayed in Dragon Springs my whole life. And I kept hoping that the next world would be home, that I could go back and find out what had happened. It's the not knowing that's the worst." She gulped again, though she seemed to have run out of tears to shed.

Ven squeezed her hand comfortingly, and that seemed to keep her going.

"Sometimes I was welcomed into the new worlds, and other times I was driven out. I never wanted to hurt people, but sometimes the heartless followed me. Sometimes they were there first. Once I was accused of being their liege lord, and the people attacked me. Because I was injured and I couldn't walk, I was a prime target for the heartless…" she shivered, haunted by some memory Ven didn't even want to guess at. "Not everyone is open minded, and wherever I found people who were narrow minded, they were afraid of me. And from that fear came the risk that the heartless would try and infiltrate. At one point, I thought everything would be lost to the darkness, but I know Sora pulled through, and for a while I didn't see any heartless. But it didn't last. And I kept wandering between worlds. I never stayed long; I sometimes came back to a world I had visited before, which is how I found Leo's egg. But apart from that, I never stayed long. I didn't want to expose myself to people I knew wouldn't take kindly to my magic. I was…afraid. But I didn't want to give into it – that's how the heartless win. I try to be strong, like my grandfather, like my cousin…I try so hard to listen to my own advice, I tell myself over and over 'It's not your fault – there was nothing you could have done – if you had stayed you could have died or become a heartless yourself'. I don't want to think about the damage I could do as a heartless… I try to think of ways to rationalise it in my mind, put it in words so I can understand and remember…"

Ven was silent the whole time, digesting everything she said.

"You can't live in either light or darkness – both have to exist. The way I deal with it is, I let the darkness remain in my heart, I acknowledge it, but I ignore it. I always think 'Yes, I know it's there, but I'm busy thinking about this now. There's no need to worry about it, its there and its natural.' And that works for me. But then…" she frowned, containing herself. "My emotions build up until something gives, and I have to vent it otherwise I'd be consumed by it. I almost was once – two years after I left home. I just screamed at the sky and let myself give into the despair and anger I felt. And then I saw the darkness manifesting itself physically around me. I was terrified – which made it worse. I managed to calm down and get a grip on the situation, and I decided to never get that worked up ever again. Of course, it didn't work – I still got upset, I still needed to get it off my chest. So instead of giving in to it, I let the energy fuel my movements and channel it out of my system that way. So I end up breaking things. And when I'm in a state I start hating myself for acting just like the heartless, even though deep down I know I'm not like them. I know I have so much to be grateful for. For one thing, I'm still alive after all these years, and I have an ability that can help people. Even if there's nothing else for me in this existence, that's enough. I once helped a woman on the roadside give birth; it was the most beautiful moment of my life, to see that new person, that new life, come into the world because of my help. I think the mother would have died if I hadn't helped her. She couldn't walk, and she contracted a fever – I nursed her back to health. And it was then I realised that, if nothing else, I made a difference that day, and I could do it again if I kept moving. If I can help someone, I'll carry any other burden. But…to be able to help others, you've got to look after yourself. You can't give a hundred per cent if you haven't got a hundred per cent. So I try to make sure when I crack I'm far away from other people. I had thought after I got here that I wouldn't need to do this, but seeing Berk destroyed today…it sparked a flame I didn't realise was already there. I'm sorry you had to see that. And I'm sorry I just made you listen to my ranting…"

"No," Ven said firmly, squeezing her hand, and placing his other hand on top. "You needed to get it off your chest, like you said. I don't mind listening. All the more if it helps you."

Mel looked up and smiled, her usual warm smile, though her face was stained with tears. "Thanks Ven, you're a wonderful person."

He laughed, not meting her eye, feeling acutely embarrassed. "Not really…just that, we've gone through a lot together too. Me and Terra and Aqua, I mean. I can sort of relate." He paused, thinking it over before deciding. "I can't really speak for them, they'll tell you when they're ready, but – my old master extracted the darkness from my heart because I refused to give into it. He wanted to create the 'X-blade', and he needed me to do it. My heart was fractured, and I somehow came into contact with Sora's heart. That saved mine from slipping away. I finally got the missing piece back, the dark being that was created, but Sora still had a piece of it. I couldn't wake up until he gave it back, so I was asleep for nearly twelve years." He hadn't spoken to anyone about it since they had all returned home together. Ven felt a wash of relief as he explained what had happened – he hadn't felt especially angry or upset, he had been more concerned for his friends, but it was still good to put things into words. After Mel had confided in him, he felt he owed it to her to return the favour of trust, being the first person to voice it to.

Mel squeezed his hand, and leant up to kiss his cheek. "Good people are the ones bad things happen to, and they stay as true as they were before."

"We're all pretty amazing then, right?" he managed to get a weak laugh from her. "C'mon, let's get back inside." She was shivering now, and he was also feeling the cold.

They walked briskly back up to the front doors, trying to work some warmth into their limbs and keeping close together to retain what little warmth they had. They had just reached the courtyard when the doors opened and Terra ran out, wearing a jumper over his nightclothes.

"_There_ you are!" he said indignantly, grabbing them by the arms and dragging them indoors. "When you didn't come back Aqua started getting worried, and when she found you _both_ missing she woke me up to go look for you. Where the hell have you been?!"

"Around," Ven shrugged. He wasn't about to divulge everything that Mel had entrusted him with. "Did some training, talked about stuff. Nothing, really."

"Aqua's gonna have your hide when she gets her hands on you. You're freezing!" he said to Mel, rubbing her hands together. He started fussing over the state of her, and was about to frogmarch them to the kitchen for some hot drinks when Aqua came flying down the stairs and got her hands on them.

"Where have you been!" she all but shouted. "I've been out of my mind with worry!" she looked very angry, but before Ven could mount a satisfactory defence her façade dropped and he saw how anxious she had really been. Aqua flung her arms around Ven – having to stretch to reach, and held him tightly before reaching for Mel with her other arm. "If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. The last time you disappeared…I don't know what I'd do…!"

Leo crept down the stairs and over to them before wrapping them up in his own hug, caressing them all with his feathered limbs and cooing comfortingly. Ven had to choke back tears of his own – in that moment he was surrounded by his family, and it was worth every hardship he had ever faced just to reach this one moment.

Eventually Terra pulled back and ruffled Mel's hair, skimming over the minor detail of tears falling down her cheeks. "C'mon! Some hot chocolate. And then bed." He said firmly, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her away, Leo padding along silently beside them.

Aqua looked at Ven, but turned away with a sigh. She was about to leave when he said, "I'm sorry, Aqua…" he hadn't meant to worry her so.

"Ah, Ven!" she hugged him again. "If I expect you to act like I grown up I have to treat you like one first. It's just…" she had to look up to look into his eyes. It brought home just how much he had physically grown. "I still remember the boy who came to train with us, and I'll always see you as my little brother. I'll never be able to let that go, and I won't stop freaking out every time something happens."

"Heh!" he grabbed her in a bear hug. "I wouldn't want you change _ever_, Aqua! You're the best sister I could ask for,"

XOXOX

**If you've got the time, please do drop me a review and let me know what you think – you're input will be greatly appreciated! :)**


	5. Surprise!

**AN: I had hoped to have finished writing this a bit sooner, and the next update may take a bit longer because my health has taken a down turn, annoyingly :/**

**I'll try to get it done promptly – in the mean time; I welcome your thoughts/views on this chapter and the story in general thus far! I am hoping to write more Terra-Aqua moments into the plot, something I had originally intended and haven't actually managed to do a whole lot of xD**

_**Surprise!**_

The next day dawned bright, exceptionally cold, and covered in a fine layer of snow. Even with the weight of Mel's admission the night before, Ven couldn't possibly feel gloomy on a snowy day like this. He went to great lengths to wake everyone up so they could see the snow for themselves, and he was amazed to see Mel smiling brilliantly from the breakfast table – she astonished him further when she admitted she had seen it coming.

"I thought you said none of your casting made sense?" he asked, blinking in amazement as they hurried up to their rooms to get some more weather appropriate clothes.

"I figured out why." She said, watching snow float past the high windows. "I was asking stupid questions. I wanted to know where I should be going, but I really should be staying here with you guys, so I got gibberish in response. When a card reading or a dowsing session gives you nonsense answers it means you shouldn't be asking questions at that moment in time. I was being short sighted." She was wearing a lump of blue rock in a wire spiral hung on a leather thong around her neck, and when asked she laughed freely and said, "Sodalite. The Throat Chakra. For communication. To remind myself I don't need to let it fester inside."

Ven smiled at her, and she beamed back. "I'm glad you feel better,"

"Me too. Thank you," she gave him a surprisingly strong hug before ducking into her room to grab a warm jacket.

To add to Ven's high spirits, Leo found he adored the snow after spending half an hour carefully picking his way over the white dusting, looking distrustful. He decided he loved it when Terra started a snowball fight with Ven, and began chasing the projectiles around with enthusiasm. Aqua turned the game into a training session to improve their agility; the aim was to hit each other with snowballs as much as possible, without getting hit in return or being knocked over by the over sized dragon chick. From the book she had calculated he needed to grow three more feet in length and his wingspan needed to be five feet longer before he could be classed as a juvenile. It was loads of fun, and though Ven was disappointed that Mel only managed to throw two snowballs that actually hit their intended target (he had hoped she might utilise that fighting spirit he had seen her use) but she managed to stay on her feet the longest without being knocked over. Ven, on the other hand, spent the majority of his time face down in the snow; Leo chased the snow flakes as well as the snow balls, and his tail and wings went whirling around in a blur of raven black feathers, colliding with everyone and everything within range.

When lunchtime loomed ahead of them, the soft and dainty sprinkling of crystals from the sky gave way to huge tufts of snow that came hurtling from the heavens to land audibly on the ground. They retreated indoors, and spent the afternoon trying to focus on productive work while the snow piled up in the corners of the windows. Leo was mesmerised by it all, and had to be restrained from frolicking out in the snow; he hadn't produced a winter coat as such, and he had no clothing besides his armour, which was highly unsuitable for keeping him warm. Terra voiced a question that was going through Ven's mind – rather than the essay he was supposed to be writing.

"Do dragons have winter coats?"

"Probably. It doesn't like he's developed one yet, does it?"

Mel sat thoughtfully, watching Leo sulk in the corner of the library on a pile of cushions and blankets they had made for him to sit on in comfort. He wanted to go play in the magical white rain that didn't instantly soak you all the way through – he was ignoring his captors sternly as a punishment, and turned his backside on Aqua when she tried to placate him with some hot chocolate, a drink he had developed a sweet tooth or three for.

"We could always make him a coat, like you do with dogs." Mel said eventually, and that evening she brought out some knitting needles and an assortment of wool she had kept at the bottom of her Bergen, and began on a makeshift dragon coat.

The following day before they did anything else the four of them went outside to shovel the courtyard. The snow was building up into dramatic quantities and to keep from getting snowed in they had to scrape as much as possible out of the way, while yet more snow fell on them relentlessly. Leo's enthusiasm had worn off now, and he followed at Terra's heel, using his tail like a battering ram against the drifts of ice cold white that were slowly soaking his feathers through. He looked quite miserable, and even Aqua had lost the light-hearted feelings of yesterday as she tackled a mini river of ice that threatened to trip people up by the stairs. Mel was ploughing her way through the snow with an unreadable expression, as if she didn't love or hate the snow – it was just a thing that happened to be there at that particular moment in time.

Ven threw his shovel down in despair. "C'mon, guys! It's snowing! What's with the long faces?"

Leo croaked reproachfully, then shrieked when a large pile of snow fell from a lamppost and landed squarely on the back of his neck. "I think he's said it all," Terra said with amusement as the dragon ran to Aqua for comfort, and ended up skidding on the ice she was trying to dislodge before crashing into the wall with a yelp.

Once they had ascertained that Leo was all right (fuming, but unharmed) they continued to work. Ven remembered clearly the first snowfall he'd seen here – he had been born on an island where it was always warm, and even the few memories he had of living with Master Xehanort were completely snow free. He had loved watching Leo's reaction the day before, remembering his own amazement that water could fall from the sky in big white clumps, and the even bigger amazement that you could _play_ with it. Master Eraqus had given them three whole days off from training to enjoy the snow, chuckling at Ven's wide eyed wonder. They had learnt a valuable lesson that winter; using fire spells to cheat and melt the snow away just meant you had to deal with the ice that followed, which was harder to get rid of. So here they were, years later, still shovelling snow. There was supposed to be a sack of rock salt somewhere but they couldn't find it even after hours of searching, and Terra refused to use salt from the kitchen, so they stuck to shovelling in the mean time.

The first casualty of the snow was Aqua, who started coming down with a cold by suppertime. She went to bed early after a tonic Mel put together from Terra's food stores, and the others congregated in the common room dejectedly.

"The novelty of snow always wears off quickly." Mel remarked.

Ven huffed loudly, annoyed that they were infringing on his fun; rather than go sledging or having another snowball fight they were confined indoors and only ventured out to clear the courtyard – all outdoor training was henceforth suspended. It was a real downer.

"Dunno about you, but I don't fancy getting pneumonia." Terra said with finality.

Mel's head shot up from her arms where she had been previously resting, and the other two watched her curiously. "When's Aqua's birthday?" she asked out of the blue.

"Oh its," Ven stopped and exchanged looks with Terra before they both groaned. "Oh no!" he smacked himself in the forehead.

"What?"

"It's next week, isn't it? Dammit!" Terra berated himself.

"How could we forget?" Ven wanted to kick himself.

Leo crawled over to see what they were on about, and Mel explained to him what a birthday was. He clearly understood the concept, and started motioning for them to get up and do something about it. At this late hour, with snow still falling thick and fast, and with no clue about what to do, they didn't heed his advice. Instead, they started scheming together. Ven nonchalantly held Aqua's attention the next day by asking about the essay he was supposed to be writing, and used the genuine excuse of not understanding the subject matter while Terra sent a message to Sora and the others about Aqua's impending birthday. They had most of what they needed for party food, but they needed some other supplies and a valid excuse to go get them. Radiant Garden seemed like their best bet, and to Ven's delight the perfect excuse presented itself with Lea's announcement that Ansem the Wise wanted to see their now infamous dragon for himself.

It turned out Mel had sent a message of her own to Lea and Mickey, who had then surreptitiously mentioned to Ansem about Leo, which gave arise to the need to travel to the town. Ven and Terra congratulated Mel behind Aqua's back, praising her sneakiness.

"I was beginning to think you didn't have it in you to be deceitful," Terra said teasingly.

"It's not deceitful," she said evenly, wringing out her sopping wet hair (she had fallen afoul of the frozen stream and they were busy keeping her from catching a cold while Aqua and Leo dealt with the brick wall, now broken from the ice and Mel's fall). "It's being covert. There's a distinct difference."

"As long as it's more covert than that little 'incident' just now we'll be fine," Terra said bracingly.

Three days before Aqua's birthday they remained as nonchalant as possible while they got ready to leave for Radiant Gardens. Aqua hadn't mentioned anything, and it seemed apparent that she had forgotten it was just around the corner – she was suspicious of Ven and his actions, but he managed to pass it off as excitement for seeing Sora and the others again, which Aqua believed blindly. She ignored his jumping around while she wrestled him into a thick coat and wound a borrowed scarf around his neck. He complained loudly about being treated like a little kid, and lost face completely when Terra rammed a woollen hat onto his head with a disgusting yellow pom-pom and said, "There! Now you look like a Christmas Tree!"

They all stood back to critique his work, and Ven couldn't decide what was more embarrassing; being told he looked like a Christmas tree, wrapped in his over large scarf like bad tinsel, or when Mel cocked her head to one side and said, "Looks more like a Moogle…"

Ven threw his hands up in defeat and stalked off, throwing the offending hat away. Leo picked it up and stuck his nose in it hopefully, as if he thought it could protect him from the onslaught of the cold.

"At least you're not the only one who looks stupid now," Terra commented snidely.

Radiant Garden was lying under a thick layer of its own snow when they arrived, and a few Christmas decorations were already creeping onto the streets. It seemed it had been snowing here for a while too, because it had compacted into ice underfoot in some places, and the people who hurried past them were ferrying food and supplies or ushering over excited children back indoors. Leo got quite a few stares, but he had learnt to deal with the attention by acting has harmless as possible, and not pouncing on people, even in play. In Berk it was all right because they were used to the dragons, and Hiccup hadn't minded at all when during their last visit Leo had tried to give him a bear hug that sent him face first into the snow. However, Riku had had to do some explaining when he'd taken Leo to another world, where he was accused of attacking someone. After that, they kept a close eye on him and made sure he displayed his affection only to those who understood he wasn't a threat.

"Hey!"

They turned to look up and saw Kairi and Sora waving from a walkway above them across the square. When they met up at the northern end of the square Ven noted that they were both wearing clothes not suited to the climate at all, but they had dressed in as many layers as possible. They were wearing borrowed gloves that didn't fit, and huddled close together around steaming mugs wrapped in cardboard holders.

"It's too cold for the ice cream shop to open," Sora whined, waving the mug at Ven. "But the hot chocolate's nice! They even put marshmallows and cream in it!"

"Where's Riku?" Ven asked as they hurried off to the shop to get some hot chocolate as well.

"He's really sick," Sora looked put out. "He couldn't come, but he made us go instead. We wanted to stay with him and make sure he was okay,"

"Didn't want us to miss the snow," Kairi managed a smile, though she looked concerned too.

"But what's actually wrong with him? Is it a cold or something?" Ven asked.

"He's got the norovirus." Sora said without missing a beat.

Kairi slowly hit the palm of her hand into her forehead, and Mel sighed sympathetically before suggesting a tincture to help with the recovery.

"What's that?" Ven asked, not knowing what a _norovirus_ was.

"I'll explain when you're older," Terra said patronisingly, shoving a steaming mug into his hands and patting his hair forcefully.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I'm an adult now!" he shouted at Terra's retreating back.

"It's unpleasant." Mel said quietly, stirring her own mug.

"Huh?"

"Norovirus. It's a strain of virus that causes a lot of acute symptoms, and it can take a few days to recover from it."

"But…what _is_ it?" Ven blinked.

Sora coughed loudly before downing his drink to excuse him from commenting; Kairi looked off into the distance, pretending the conversation wasn't happening.

Mel took Ven to one side and said in a low voice. "Think…projectile evacuation of the digestive system – from both ends simultaneously."

Ven looked down into his mug, feeling sick. "Gross…"

"You asked!" Sora clapped him on the back as they walked past holding hands. "C'mon! Master Ansem's been waiting for you guys all day!"

XOXOX

Ansem had heard about the dragon that was in all likelihood connected to the Keyblade, and ever since Mickey had told him he had been itching to see the creature for himself. He had refrained from setting up research notes on the subject, especially after Lea remarked that if anything happened to the beast there would be at least eight angry keyblade wielders to answer to. Lea wouldn't admit it out loud, but he seemed to be antagonistically fond of the dragon.

Lea himself was suffering from a bad head cold, and had declined to be there that day, but Mickey was present, wrapped up in a thick coat against the early snow. It was a shame they couldn't have some ice cream, as they often did when they met, but there were several mugs of hot chocolate waiting for them indoors. They were waiting outside for the arrival, mainly because Ansem was impatient to see the dragon with his own eyes.

"Gosh," Mickey said, rubbing his arms vigorously to create some heat. "I hope they didn't get lost,"

"I'm sure Sora knows the way. He's always here visiting his friends. The snow and ice has probably slowed them down." It was a tricky business getting around these days, with the compacted ice underneath fresh snow, and the infamous black ice on the roads.

"Ah, there they are!" Mickey said, pointing.

Ansem followed his gaze and saw Master Aqua stepping round the corner and heading for the Postern. She saw followed swiftly by her apprentices, who were moving in a huddle to keep warm; she saw him watching and waved merrily, turning back to chivvy the others on. Last to appear around the corner was the dragon Ansem had been waiting to see, following Sora's elbow like an obedient dog.

It stood tall, shoulders level with Terra's head, and a long neck that only added more height. The dragon stood on all fours, with two large wings sprouting from joints behind its shoulders; a long muscular tail fetched with two fins of long feathers trailed behind, disturbing the mammoth footprints left in the snow. The feathers themselves were black, but even from this distance Ansem could see they were tipped with raven hues. Two short horns protruded from the skull, and curled over the back of the head – two enormous honey coloured eyes stared out of a face covered in tiny, delicate feathers; a long snout ended with teeth bared against the cold and a purple tongue kept flicking out to taste the snowflakes that floated past.

The dragon was a magnificent creature; even with the temperature and lack of protection it still looked majestic and mythical – poetry in motion, the way all six limbs along with the spine moved together as it padded along behind them.

"Master Ansem!" Aqua called in greeting. "King Mickey! It's good to see you again!" they drew level, and she pulled one of the students forward along with the dragon while Terra and Ven greeted them. "Allow me to introduce our newest apprentice Melody," she bowed formally, and Ansem returned the gesture with a reassuring smile. She was a tiny slip of a girl, easily the smallest out of them all; with long dark blonde hair tied back in such a manner that it partially obscured her face. "And our dragon, Leo!"

Leo looked up at him, crouched close to the ground with his head held low, eyes incredibly wide.

"Leo, this is Ansem The Wise," Aqua said to the dragon, who looked first from her and then back to him, intelligence sparking in his expression. Though he was distinctly reptilian in appearance (besides the covering of feathers) his face was incredibly expressive, like a human's. "He's the man who wanted to meet you today,"

Ansem held out a hand to him, uncertain how to greet a dragon. Taking his cue from Aqua, who was treating Leo the same way you treated an inquisitive child, he said, "An honour to meet you, Leo." He blinked his large eyes up at Ansem before shuffling forward to press his muzzle into his hand, exhaling loudly so a wave of hot air passed over it.

"Gosh, you sure have grown again, Leo!" Mickey said happily, walking up to greet him.

Ansem was astonished when the dragon pounced on the poor king before rolling onto his back and cradling Mickey in his front legs, like a child cuddling up with a favourite toy. He roared happily, and his tail started thrashing wildly with excitement. Ansem noted that everyone ducked when Leo jumped – they anticipated the danger of getting clipped by the enormous tail. They also seemed to move with a sense of purpose around him, and reacted quickly to changes in his demeanour. After the initial greeting, they hurried back inside to get warm again, and Leo seemed to revel in the new found heat. He got excited and walked with a clear spring in his step, sending everyone diving out of the way as he flexed his impressive wings.

"Absolutely _remarkable_," he said to Aqua as Leo pestered Terra for food. When none came, he started whining loudly and rolled onto the floor, trying to look as amiable as possible.

"You ate before we left! Does this thing have worms?" he called to Ven with a laugh. "We'll eat later, I promise."

Leo wasn't satisfied, and went on to pester everyone in turn. He got hot chocolate from Sora, but it wasn't much and he wasn't satisfied. Mel had a couple of strips of dried meat and a carrot on her for some reason, but he gobbled it up with gusto, and followed her everywhere, head on her shoulder and cooing like a baby bird – only several octaves deeper.

"Absolutely remarkable." Ansem said again, refraining from whipping out a notebook to make observations. "And how old is he, now?"

"Oh," Aqua counted on her fingers. "Nearly four months. He was only this big when he hatched," she held her hands apart, about the width of her shoulders. "Not including the tail. And he's not even full grown yet," she looked exasperated, but pleased; like a mother doting on her over active child.

"Hey, Aqua!" Sora called, bouncing over to them. "Can we take off for a bit into town?"

Ansem watched in the background as Ven played a game of tag with Leo, and Mel ran to join in, dodging effortlessly around his thrashing limbs while Ven got hit in the face with first the tail fin, and then a wing. Terra jumped into the fray, and suddenly he was wrestling Leo to the ground, whooping loudly when he succeeded.

"How come?" Aqua asked, puzzled.

"We need to get some things," Sora said, and then added in a stage whisper behind his hands, "we're going to have a party when Riku's better. But you don't know that."

Aqua laughed. "Okay, go ahead. Just take care on the roads, all right?"

"Thanks Aqua!" he grinned at her before he barrelled off to grab the others. "Woohoo! C'mon guys, we've got shopping to do!" he took Ven and Mel by the arms and raced towards the front doors, Kairi hot on his heels giggling.

"Slow down, Sora!" she called over the noise. "You'll hit your head again!"

Terra laughed and grabbed Leo by the neck. "Just you and me now, eh boy?" Leo purred much like a cat, and collapsed in a heap as Terra scratched his neck.

Ansem chuckled. "He's quite the specimen."

Aqua sighed heavily. "It would help a lot if we knew what we were doing. We've had to mostly guess, and Mel's had to do a lot of dowsing to figure out how to balance his diet."

That piqued Ansem's interest. "She's a dowser?"

"A Shaman," Terra corrected him, slowly but surely being smothered by the dragon. "Hey, Leo! Hey-!" Leo groaned loudly, flattening Terra against the floor with some difficulty. "Choking, not breathing here-!"

"Leo, we need Terra in one piece." Aqua said loudly.

Leo looked put out before he let Terra heave him off his chest. "You great behemoth," he said fondly, rubbing the crown of his head.

Ansem continued to ask questions, and Aqua answered as best she could – Mickey helped by repeating what little Master Yen Sid knew and had told them. It appeared Leo was indeed connected in some way to the keyblade; the fact that Mel could not summon a glider of her own, and he consented to bear only her as a rider was quite compelling. The manner in which the two of them had come together, and then been brought to Aqua and the others had the scent of destiny about it. Still trying to reign in the urge to start a new study, Ansem asked innocently about Leo's health, and Aqua admitted they had only Mel's pendulum to go by.

"Many conditions exhibit the same symptoms across species," he said thoughtfully. "Would you mind if I gave him a quick examination?"

"No at all. Hey, Leo, come here,"

Leo bowled Terra over in his haste to respond promptly to the summons. He sat back on his hind legs like a dog and looked expectantly at Aqua with his liquid eyes.

"Master Ansem would like to have a look at you, to see if you're healthy. Don't jump on him, okay?"

Leo behaved perfectly while Ansem gave him a good and thorough look over. His limbs on closer inspection were gangly, like a teenager who hasn't finished growing yet. The feathers on his underside were much finer and softer than those on his back, and the ones on his wings were absolutely enormous. They were formed just like a bird's wings, and they were supported by a vast network of muscles that he could feel with his hands beneath the skin. The tail fins were a series of bony, rod like structures that could be moved independently, and fetched with long thick feathers like those on the wings, which obviously aided in flight. Leo's ears were quite small, set below the horns that appeared to serve only a decorative purpose, unless they were the hallmarks of a male (he found no other outward physical evidence of being male). His teeth were another wonder; clearly an omnivore, he had both molars and incisors, as well as three pairs of canines – one pair set in his lower jaw, and two set either side of the incisors near the front. The outer most canines were longer and looked a lot more like a set of fangs; Leo sat patiently while Ansem rooted around in his mouth, inspecting everything thing from his strong white teeth to his thick purple tongue. The back of his throat looked a little red, and Aqua admitted that the turn in the weather had gotten to him.

"I am very tempted to start a research paper," he said at last; gazing longingly at the dragon who was having his head scratched by Terra, tail thumping against the walls loudly. They had conducted the conversation and inspection in the corridors outside his office, because it was big enough to accommodate Leo and his antics. There was a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope on his desk…

"You're quite welcome to try," Aqua said with a laugh. "If you can get him to stay still long enough."

Ansem chuckled. "Well, not all of my research has yielded positive results for the world, which is why I am attempting to curb my scholarly impulses. However…" he couldn't deny this urge for long. "A dragon! And not just any dragon, either. And he doesn't look at all like what I expected!"

"In most stories dragons don't have feathers." Mickey piped up, watching Leo closely. He was circling Terra, and kept trying to pounce when the man had to turn to keep them facing each other; Terra dodged easily, and it appeared to be a game aimed at enhancing agility. "But what I can't get my head around is how much he's _grown_ since I last saw him!"

"Oh, that's not all," Aqua said, smiling mischievously. "Leo can also talk, to some degree." That nearly blew Ansem's mind, and he begged for a demonstration. Aqua called him back again, and said, "Who am I?"

Leo managed to raise an eyebrow and cocked his head at a disparaging angle in response, and didn't say anything.

"I _know_ you know who I am," she laughed, patting his muzzle. "But Master Ansem wants you hear you speak."

Leo drew himself up onto his hind legs and touched her forehead with a clawed paw, and parted his jaws. "Ahhkwahh." He said in a rough, deep voice.

If his jaw hadn't been attached to Ansem's skull, it would have hit the ground. "Amazing!"

Then, Leo bounded back to Terra, proclaiming, "Tehrahh!" loudly just before they collided.

"He can't quite say Ventus or Melody." Aqua explained. "He can't get the 'muh' and 'vuh' sounds, but he manages by calling them 'Entus' and 'El'."

"Absolutely astounding! He can imitate human speech, and he clearly understands meaning of the words he's saying. Truly remarkable!"

"If you wanted to do some research," Aqua said. "We'd be happy to lend him to you."

"If we can get him to stay still," Terra said, turning his back on the frolicking feathered lump.

Leo displayed the clear behaviour of a growing and inquisitive child. They took his temperature, blood pressure, and Ansem took his heartbeat and breathing rate after measuring his large rib cage. Leo got his nose into everything Ansem brought out to him, and spent a long time playing with the stethoscope, trying to use it on Aqua the same way Terra had used it on him.

"He's a funny thing, isn't he?" Ansem said at last as they watched Terra playing traffic lights with Leo.

Terra kept spinning round, sometimes suddenly sometimes slowly, always with a dramatic pose, and Leo would drop to the floor, ears flat and body completely still. Only once did he move – unable to balance on two legs, and had to retreat back to the starting line. Terra walked around the room, Leo scuttling after him and trying to evade detection; he was _very_ slowly managing to creep up on Terra.

Aqua laughed and said, "He's quite the handful, but I guess after Ven and Terra, he's pretty easy. It's quite hard to lose track of a two tonne dragon."

She had been looking at Ansem as she spoke, and he at her, so when Terra spun round with a "Yah!" they looked up to find Leo missing.

"Where did he go?" she demanded, instantly troubled.

Just then, Leo dropped from where he had been clinging to the ceiling and fell on top of Terra, crowing with triumph. Terra conceded gracefully, though his pride had definitely been hurt; Leo did nothing to cheer him up, and chose instead to get his teeth into the guard on his shoulder and wrench it from his arm, scampering off with it. Ansem was giving a demonstration on how they disciplined the dragon; after chasing him around the corridors Aqua managed to liberate the guard from him, and gave him a light smack on the end of his nose before lecturing him on respecting other people's property.

Sora and the others chose to return at that precise moment, and Ven looked unsurprised by the proceedings. "What happened this time?" he said in a bored voice.

"Tried to eat this again," Terra muttered darkly, strapping it to his arm again.

"Maybe he's really that hungry?" Kairi suggested.

Mel rummaged around in one of the bags they had brought and produced a steaming hot pie they had bought. "Maybe he's really that much of a pain in the-!" Terra began, but was cut short by Leo's frantic dash to reach the pie in Mel's hands.

"Uh," she said, raising it above her head so he couldn't theoretically reach it, although her hand was close enough to smack him on the nose should the need arise. "Are we going to behave our self? And not eat other peoples things?" in answer Leo rushed up and gave Terra an affectionate lick and wagged his tail, begging approval and forgiveness.

_Just like a child_, Ansem though to himself, smiling. Even though he was a real handful, and he obviously got on their nerves at times, Leo was a much-loved member of their family. He even honoured Ansem with a clumsy hug when they got ready to leave.

They all congregated at the Postern again, and had to spend a while divvying up the supplies they had bought in town while Aqua kept a close eye on Leo so he didn't cause any trouble. He had managed to slip and fall on the ice on his way outside, and was licking the offending limb with wounded pride, much like Terra had been earlier. Mel walked past Ansem, after saying goodbye to Mickey, and he felt a small tug in her direction as they drew level.

"Melody?"

"Yes?" she spun on the ball of her foot, just managing to keep her balance on the ice.

Ansem studied her face closely, and she held his gaze with polite interest. He had shed his powers of the darkness once he had come home, and though he had not used them (and had had no need to) he still had a certain sensitivity towards the hearts of others, and what he could see in this girl was fascinating.

Some people lived in complete ignorance of the darkness that lay in their heart; some people knew and encouraged it deliberately while others feared and shunned it, only to be consumed by that fear. Then there were others who, by wisdom or bitter experience, accepted and maintained the light and dark in their hearts, keeping both in check. But this girl, she had a peculiar aura about her heart that Ansem had not seen before.

It was…completely melded. Riku and Terra had taken to keeping the two separate from each other in their own hearts, keeping the darkness in check. No one could really blame them, but this girl's heart was in a dappled light: it was like looking at the light reflecting off water, or the sun filtering through the trees. Totally and completely blended right the way through, one never over powering the other. When she stood alone, apart from the others and their own light, it was easier to see the anomaly she posed.

"You seem, my dear, to have an exceptionally unique heart." He chose his words carefully.

Mel blinked slowly, and he felt a change in the air about her as she considered her own words. "No more or less unique than anyone else's." she said evenly.

Ansem chuckled. "People have different ways of keeping their darkness in check. It seems a little odd to me to find that one of the Keyblade possesses a heart that has melded the two together."

She blinked again, this time in surprise. "I'm afraid, of what would happen if I gave into the darkness. The consequences of being a heartless, and possibly a nobody, is enough to keep me in check. The darkness itself isn't scary – it's the thought of what my being could achieve, and the damage I could cause. _That's_ what scares me. So, rather than living in fear of what _could_ happen, and just tell myself, 'Yes Darkness, I know you're there, I'm just ignoring you right now'. I never really thought of my heart as…dappled,"

Ansem chuckled to himself, closing his eyes. So she was a psychic as well?

"Your Third Eye Chakra's wide open. That's how I heard your thoughts,"

"You seem very well informed on this branch of magic." He told her.

Mel shrugged and looked away sheepishly. "I learnt most of what I know by travelling. Piece by piece. But when I put everything together, it made a lot of sense. Like…" she looked back again, straight in the eye, and he could practically feel the sincerity in her gaze. "The heartless are the emotions left behind when a heart is taken by the darkness. They are unbalanced by the shift in energy, because they loose their higher thinking and their emotions become the ruling factor in their actions. A nobody is the opposite, and they can't _feel_ like we do because they have no heart or emotions – no heart and no sacral chakras to really speak of. That's why they can't empathise, because their body is physically incapable of producing the right balance of emotional hormones or energy. It took a while for me to figure it out, but when I did, I found I felt even more sorry for them. And it's also part of the reason why I'm determined to remain centred and balanced myself. I'm not scared of dying, but I'm terrified of undeath and what that entails – not just for me."

There seemed to be a long history here, there was a flicker of pain in her eyes, though it was small and mostly healed. Perhaps she had lost someone dear to her, through the heartless and-or the nobodies?

"A very sensible stance to take. Especially when you carry the burden of the keyblade."

"The way I see it," she said, raising her hands as two blades shimmered into existence, "is that I'd rather bear the burden, so that someone else doesn't have to. And besides," she smiled, her whole being lighting up with it. "I have the best Master to train under, and I have something like a family again."

"Something like?" Ansem chuckled, wondering at her choice of words.

"It would be discourteous of me to assume that they feel the same way about me, even though in my mind they _are_ my family."

Ansem chewed her words over in his mind, and eventually said, "Well, child – it's been _very_ interesting meeting you and Leo today."

"And you too, Master Ansem." She bowed, not just from politeness but from respect.

He took a moment to really take all of her in – not just the energy that pulsated from her heart; she was suspended in a matrix of energy more complex than Ansem was used to. And then, there was the girl who stood in the physical world – small, slight, pale; worn scuffed boots dented by travel and dragon teeth marks, and her thick coat covered in patches over a threadbare jumper just visible beneath the open collar. She had seen her fair share of hardships, and Ansem feared it wasn't the end of them – but she had clearly pulled herself this far along, and as he turned to look at the other chosen bearers of the Keyblade, he knew she was in good hands. Watching the others mill around Leo, watching their light shine brightly, something sprang to mind.

Before Mel could leave to join them, Ansem said, "May I ask one last question of you?"

"Of course."

"What do you make of Sora, and his light?"

Mel blinked before saying carefully, "Are you asking for my personal opinion, or a diagnosis?"

That caught him by surprise, and he laughed. "Both, now that you mention it."

"Sora's a giver, in terms of energy, and he takes very little back for himself. I think he's a wonderful person, and I'm glad he's my friend. As for a condition…" she tilted her head to one side, watching Sora through half closed eyes as though she could see something Ansem couldn't. "I'd say a hyper-active heart disorder."

Her answer was so unexpected, Ansem burst out laughing which drew the others' attention.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Sora called over to them.

"There's a calibration you can do with dowsing." Mel said, stifling a giggle. "I'm terrible at maths, so I never use them, but you can determine the percentage that a given person's given chakra is running at. One hundred is the optimum level to run at, for all of them. Some people, particularly with their heart chakras, run over that. I calibrated Sora's out of curiosity, and it was running at over four hundred per cent."

Ansem gazed wonderingly over at the boy, who was staring at them in bemusement. "It seems incredible, and yet…somehow hardly surprising at all."

"I gave up after four hundred and sixteen. Intensive dowsing gives me headaches. Suffice it to say that Sora's heart is the most energetic that _I've_ ever come across."

XOXOX

Something was up, and Aqua couldn't quite place her finger on it. She never seemed to be by herself – there was always at least one other person with her at all times, even if it was just Leo. And she was getting the distinct impression that the others were up to something; as she had made her way up to the library Leo scattered the books and scrolls in her hands, all over the floor, and barked loudly in apology before helping her to gather them up. When they _got_ to the library, she found Mel and Ven hastily slamming books closed and tucking them onto the shelves at random, as if they were trying to hide something. Two days after they had introduced Leo to Ansem, Aqua was posed with a nonchalant question that piqued her suspicions yet again.

"Hey, Aqua! What are you doing tomorrow?" Ven asked, bouncing around her in a circle with the distinct air of a vulture circling.

"Going to see Master Yen Sid. Why?" oh, he was _definitely_ up to something…

"Oh, no reason! Just that Riku's better now, and Sora wanted to bring him here and show him the snow. You know, because they don't get any on their island. He wanted to celebrate Riku's recovery." His smile was just a bit too bright and cheery…

"And when exactly did you guys want to '_celebrate_' his return to good health?" Aqua said, unconvinced.

"About three o'clock?" Ven said swiftly.

"All right. It shouldn't take that long; I'm leaving in the morning and I should be back for lunch,"

"Good! As long as you're back, though," Ven shook a finger at her to emphasise his point. "We can't celebrate without you!"

Aqua frowned at him, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing. "You're so weird, Ven!" she had to reach up to ruffle his hair. "Whatever you're planning, I want this place in one piece."

"You got it!" he swept into an elaborate bow, and looking up at her through his messy fringe. "_Master_ Aqua!"

The following morning after breakfast, Aqua set them with some written projects she wanted to be mostly finished by the time she returned, and she was first amazed and then dubious of their motives when they set on the task with gusto. She had been expecting some sort of resistance, especially from Ven, who was already bent over his paper before she had even finished speaking. No excuses about wanting to get ready for the others' arrival – no complaints about the work itself – nothing.

"You work so hard for us," Terra defended them all, hands in the air, eyes just a little too innocent. "We wanted to show you we appreciate it! So we thought we'd prove how well you're teaching us by doing these assignments to the best of out abilities."

"You sound like you swallowed the damn text book," Ven muttered to himself, staring at the broken pencil in his hand. "Stupid thing…"

Mel threw a pen to him and he continued working with great enthusiasm. Aqua took her to one side before she left and said, "They're up to something,"

"Possibly." Mel shrugged, avoiding her gaze.

Aqua shook her head. She was running out of time now, she had to get going. She didn't like to think that Mel had turned on her too…Terra and Ven, it was a given – the number of times she had woken up to custard in her shoes, or a hairbrush laced with honey (though she had gotten her own back over the years, too). "Just make sure they stay out of trouble. And no world hopping today. If the weather gets worse you might not be able to get back into this world, and I don't want anyone getting lost."

"Okay,"

Aqua smiled. Even if she couldn't guess what they were up to, she could trust Mel to keep them out of inter-world trouble. She left for Yen Sid's tower, and just made it in time even though she had been late leaving.

"Ah, Master Aqua," he said in greeting as she hurried through the door.

"Sorry I'm late!" she said, flushing at the use of her title. It still didn't seem to sit right with her…

"You are just in time," he said calmly. "Have a seat." As she sat down he procured a tray of tea and some plain biscuits, which she politely accepted. "Now then, you're probably wondering why I asked you here?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I have been doing my own research into Melanie's history." That surprised her. "And I have found a few interesting things, which I doubt she knows about. I trained her grandfather, Marick, in the magical arts very briefly. I was aware he could wield the keyblade, but I had no idea that he became a Master until we met his granddaughter. It would appear that he worked at some point with Master Xehanort."

"What?" Aqua said sharply.

"Whether as a partner or a student, I do not know, but Marick left soon after to train with another Master who has long since departed from the living. Master Orin. It seems apparent that he knew something of Xehanort's motives, and distanced himself from the man. From what Mel has told me, I suppose that he wanted to protect his family, and so cut his ties to the Keyblade. And then he found his granddaughter could also wield the weapon, and taught her the rudiments to make sure she could protect herself. Because he died before she left home, and warned her of the heartless attack, I can only assume he had some measure of foresight and knew the order of the worlds would be compromised. I doubt she knows what he made of the situation, or the choices that led to his final decision, but she knew just enough to keep herself safe from the heartless, and not enough to make her a target for Organisation XIII when they began collecting hearts. In that respect, she has been incredibly lucky not to be caught up in their plans. On the other hand, as far as I can tell, she has suffered her own journey to reach the place she now stands. I do not need to tell you the importance of learning to use the keyblade properly, so it is pointless to stress the importance of Mel learning how to control her keyblade fully and completely. The addition of the keyblade dragon in this only lends to the need to make sure she can control her powers. But you probably already guessed this."

Aqua sat back in her chair, digesting what she had just heard. "So her grandfather knew Master Xehanort?"

"Correct. It was after he was my pupil, but he never spoke highly of the man. Granted, he did not talk about him much, if at all."

Aqua mulled that over in her mind for a moment. "Did Master Eraqus ever meet him?"

"I do not know. But it would appear that Mel is as perceptive as her grandfather was. And, if my suspicions are correct, I think she will make an excellent Master when the time is right."

Aqua smiled. "I don't think it takes the gift of prophecy to see that one coming. Master Yen Sid, was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes. I thought you should know what I had learned of her grandfather, and of what little I remember. I also wanted to warn you that despite the great strength she possesses, I can see Melanie is just like her grandfather, and he too was followed by trouble wherever he went. I believe that was why he chose to give up the keyblade, to protect his loved ones. And added to the astonishing amount of mayhem that Ventus and Terra attract to themselves, I thought I should give you a warning."

Aqua smothered a laugh. Yup, that was her boys all right – sticking their noses where they didn't belong. If Mel was truly a magnet for trouble too, she needed to start auditing their missions more closely.

"Do you think it's intentional?" she asked, more than a hint of irony in her voice.

Yen Sid chuckled. "No, I do not. But I can tell you that from what little I remember of Marick; he was always falling into trouble through seemingly no fault of his own. He, and Mel, seem to be the sort of people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, as may be the case, exactly the right place at exactly the right time. I can see him reflected in her eyes when I look into them. Whatever way you look at it, be forewarned."

"Thank you, Master Yen Sid." Before Aqua left, she asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"As a matter of fact," he bent down to pick something off the floor by his chair. "Could you deliver these for me?" he held up to brown envelopes.

"Of course!" she checked the time, and decided that she would be back to meet Sora and the others.

"They are expecting them. They know what they are for."

The first was addressed to King Mickey, so after saying goodbye to Yen Sid Aqua left for Disney Castle. Mickey was very pleased to see her again so soon, and convinced her to stay for another cup of tea and some light fluffy cakes. He didn't open the envelope, which ended up on his desk unread instead, but he asked Aqua to take a package home with her. It was a small, unassuming thing wrapped in brown paper with a faded label that she didn't bother checking – she would much rather hurry up and get home soon, so she smiled and politely declined the offer of more tea before she left.

The second envelope was addressed to Merlin the Wizard, so it was back to Radiant Garden the second time that week. The snow had stopped falling, but there was plenty of the stuff left all over the place, as well as the unwelcome ice. Aqua had to tread very carefully to keep from breaking her neck, but she eventually made it to Merlin's house. She had briefly met Sora's friends from the 'Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee' before, and they were all congregated inside. Aqua found herself yet again plied with tea and cake while she tried to hand the envelope over. They really were very lovely people, but by the time she managed to escape back into the cold with her pockets weighed down by numerous cakes, and carrying yet another package to take back with her, she just wanted to be at home. Hopefully Riku was still not well enough for their usual antics, and they could have a nice quiet afternoon together; she didn't think she could handle the boys all together today.

Finally, When Aqua landed in the courtyard at home, she noticed it looked different. On closer inspection, the ground had been covered in gritting salt – they must have found the sack at last. The salt gave way with a satisfying crunch underfoot, and she didn't slip at all on the stairs. Once inside, Aqua called out to let them know she had returned; she had been expecting them to either have finished their assignments or have gotten bored, and end up sparring in the great hall. No one was there, nor were they in the library or the Master's study – neither was the work they were supposed to have done. The kitchen was equally deserted, and surprisingly clean for the post-lunch apocalypse that usually greeted her.

"Hello!" Aqua called down the empty corridors. "Guys!" Not even Leo, the most diligent of welcomers, came to greet her. Sighing, she walked towards the only other door she hadn't tried besides their dorms. She doubted they were so bored of work that they'd gone to sleep…

Aqua stepped into the common room, expecting more emptiness, and nearly had a heart attack when she flicked the lights on and everyone jumped up from behind the sofa screaming, "SURPRISE!"

"Happy Birthday, Aqua!" Sora shouted as Ven blew into a party blower with a dramatic _hoot_.

"What?" she asked, looking around the room in a daze. They had decked the walls with hand made streamers, and a small pile of brightly wrapped packages were stacked neatly in a corner out of the way of the enormous picnic blanket set before the hearth, covered in sandwiches, crisps, muffins and other unhealthy foods, surrounding a large chocolate cake iced with a large star and the words, 'HAPPY B-DAY MASTER AQUA!'

"Surprised?" Ven laughed and raised his hands in a shrug. "Don't tell me you forgot!"

Aqua laughed at herself. She really _had_ forgotten all about her own birthday. And they had gone to all this trouble, just for her? "Oh guys, thank you!"

"C'mon over!" Sora waved a streamer at her, grinning like a little kid at Christmas. He didn't have a party hat, unlike Ven and Riku, so he had taken a scarf and knotted it around his head like a pirate. But he _did_ have the streamers, which he was waving around all over the place and getting coloured paper everywhere.

Kairi and Mel had made do with some hairstyles instead of hats, involving neat French plaits and some glittery hair slides, and Terra had for some bizarre reason painted coloured streaks into his hair. It seemed this might have been done against his will, because Sora and Ven had traces of paint on their hands and clothes, and Mel had a single jagged streak of purple in her braid apparently by accident. Riku and Ven were wearing party hats; Ven at a jaunty angle, Riku with resignation. He smiled weakly at Aqua, wishing her a happy birthday with dark circles under his eyes – he seemed well enough as long as he didn't move around too much or too quickly. Leo also had a hat, which he had managed to get onto the end of his snout – someone (probably Sora) had wound some tinsel around his horns as well, making a rustling sound every time he moved. Lea had showed up, but he hadn't dressed up like the others, and he alone appeared to have escaped the paint.

Terra gave Aqua a long-suffering look as they sat down around the blanket to eat a late and wholly unhealthy lunch. Hot pink paint had been matted into his hair right at the front where it was most visible; it seemed he couldn't handle Sora and Ven together in the same room without help. With Riku still effectively out of commission while Aqua had been absent – he had been totally and completely alone.

"They didn't give you _too_ much trouble, did they?" she asked, brushing stray streamers off her boots.

"I'll live," he sighed, dodging a cupcake that was thrown at him. "It was worth it, though, just to see your face!" he grinned.

"Cake?" Sora asked, throwing muffins at everyone anyway. "Hey, try the tuna sandwiches Mel made!"

"I _hate_ fish!" Ven pulled a face, dodging Lea's headlock. "Get off!"

"Be a man," Lea jeered, stuffing a fishy sandwich into his own mouth. He swallowed and said, "Wouldn't want to break her heart now, after all that hard work she did busting her butt to get them made in time!"

Mel quietly handed Ven a plain cucumber and ham sandwich instead. "I don't like tuna either," she admitted.

The talk was light hearted after her meeting with Yen Sid, and Sora was practically in love with Aqua when she produced the excess cakes Yuffie had forced on her after Riku ate the very last one Mel and Kairi had made. She had also made some chocolate fudge, which was still a little bit greasy from the pan they had been setting in. "I usually use foil, but we didn't have enough, so I greased it with some cooking oil, and it went a bit funny…" Mel looked disappointed with the results, but that didn't deter Aqua, especially when Sora waved the bowl with the cubes of fudge at her.

"Birthday girl gets first dibs!" he said brightly

"Thanks!" it tasted absolutely _wonderful_.

"How come you never let _me_ have first dib when it's _my_ birthday?" Riku grumbled, splayed out alongside Leo on the floor and nursing a headache.

"Because you're a birthday _boy_. There is a _huge_ difference!" Sora insisted, waving his arms while Ven laughed at him.

"How?" Riku demanded irritably.

"Well, your reproductive organs are on the outside of your body." Lea said flippantly, holding up one of Yuffie's fluffy little cupcakes and inspecting it closely. "And Aqua's are on the inside. Your hormones aren't as crazy and unpredictable as a woman's, and your mammary glands don't serve a functioning purpose. _That's_ why you're different." His words were met with complete silence. "What? Just calling it like it is,"

Sora caught Kairi's eye and instantly straightened up, looking away. "I didn't say anything!" he said hastily.

"So Mel," Terra said loudly, lounging at his ease on his back on a pile of cushions. "Care to add anything to Lea's theory?"

"Um." She blinked, twisting her mouth thoughtfully. "He's _sort_ of right." Lea snorted loudly. "Well, in terms of energy you can roughly split it down the middle between male and female, or _active_ and _receptive_. Energies you normally associate with the feminine attributes are creative and nurturing, and energies associated with masculine qualities are protective and forceful, so there's a balance; where the dreams and creations manifest, and where they are put into action and defended. So broadly speaking, women _are_ more driven towards creative and nurturing roles, and men are driven towards more aggressive and protective roles, because of the balance in energies, but it's perfectly possible to get men with more female energy, and vice versa. But it's really best if you can keep both your male and female sides in balance with each other. Too much 'Sun' or 'Moon' energy can unhinge your whole system if it isn't dealt with." Her lecture was met with many a blank stare, but Aqua understood. "I guess I didn't make much sense…"

"No, I get it. It's like light and darkness – there has to be an equilibrium."

"So which side is which?" Sora asked, wide-eyed and bursting with curiosity.

"I don't think it works like that," Terra began, but Mel responded promptly.

"Left is female, right is male. Your left side is also the past, and the receiver. The right is the future, and the warrior spirit – which just means your self confidence."

"Where do they teach this stuff?" Lea groaned. Apparently, it had mostly gone over his head.

"I read it in a book." Mel shrugged. "Besides, it all makes sense in the way I see the world, and twenty-five different worlds completely unrelated to each other and sharing the same ideologies can't be completely wrong, can they?"

The conversation meandered on, and Mel was locked in a heated discussion with Lea when they came round to cutting the cake. She broke it off to grab a flute and played 'Happy Birthday' along with Riku on a battered looking guitar he had brought along. Aqua blushed profusely at the gesture, and kept insisting they needn't fuss over her so. Ven rolled his eyes and forced a huge slab of chocolate cake into her hands on a plate and said, "We're gonna spoil you today. Deal with it!"

After the food and drink had been completely polished off, Terra and Mel produced tea, coffee and elaborate hot chocolates with many toppings, and Sora grabbed the brightly wrapped packages from the corner and placed them carefully before Aqua. "Did you get the presents from King Mickey and the guys in Hollow Bastion?"

"Hmm?" then she remembered the two unassuming packages she had been given while she was out. _How_ she had managed to miss the connection, she would never know.

"C'mon, open'em!" Sora said excitedly.

"You're acting like it's _your_ birthday," Lea remarked, eyebrows raised.

"What do you mean? He's like this every day," Ven shot back.

"I wanna see what's inside! It's like waiting for Christmas," Sora reasoned, eyes shining with delight. "_Sooo_ many presents, but you can't open them and look inside!"

"Didn't you lecture me last year about how what's _inside_ doesn't matter, it's the act of giving that's most important?" Riku chastised him.

"Oh yeah, I did say that! By the way, Riku. Santa Clause wants me to give you his _very best regards_!"

Aqua could scent an argument that was both old and very much on going, so she let Ven bully her into opening the first present at the top of the pile rather than get involved. It was very clear that Sora was concerned about Riku's condition (he kept refilling his cup and checking his temperature – much to Riku's annoyance) but that didn't stop him from winding his best friend up. Lea exchanged looks with Terra before pretending to wind up an imaginary crank, making him laugh.

The first gift was a hand made necklace and matching earrings from Kairi, constructed from seashells and painted a delicate blue on the inside curve of the shells in wave like patterns. Next was Riku's, which turned out to be a leather bound notebook and an 'indestructible' pen (apparently Sora had tested this theory with promising results) – both stamped with the same heart and wave pattern along the edges. Lea's tiny little present wrapped up in a small box was in fact a small bottle of perfume – small, because it was very powerful and you only needed a small amount; Radiant Garden's finest. Sora and Ven had collaborated to get a present for her, and was the second largest present in the pile. They had taken a plain wooden box and filled it with brightly coloured, beautiful smelling soap bars and bath bombs that apparently could be used up to three or four times – all made from natural ingredients. Aqua loved baths, and she couldn't wait to try them out; she saw Sora and Ven high five over Riku's head as she slid the box carefully aside to make way for the biggest package. It was clumsily wrapped, as if in a great hurry, and turned out to be from Mel; it was a bed throw made of twelve square panels, each the same size but with completely different patterns and in a diverse range of blues, blending into purples and greens, made with different patterned and textured fabrics. Last of all in the pile was Terra's gift, with a note saying it was also from Leo; three unique candle holders made from twisted, blown glass – one red and green; another green, brown and yellow; the third purple, blue and white.

Aqua loved them all, and she was constantly stopping in the act of unwrapping or admiring to give each of them a hug, and thanking them profusely. Even if she hadn't forgotten her own birthday, she would never have expected this, and she was so grateful for the great care and attention they had taken to every detail of the day.

The packages she had unknowingly brought home turned out to be a fancy fountain pen for 'special and official documentations' from Mickey and their friends at Disney castle, as well as Yen Sid; the second was a box of hand made chocolates from the guys in Radiant Garden, with a beautifully carved wooden photo frame slipped in from Ansem the Wise, with a photograph that had been taken the day they had visited. Frozen in time beneath the glass pane, Leo was licking Terra's cheek affectionately while Mel patted his neck down; Aqua and Ven were laughing together at some joke that had been made at the time.

Very carefully, Aqua gathered up her new possessions and placed them out of the way so they couldn't get damaged, and the party continued. After fresh drinks Mel picked up Riku's ratty guitar and started strumming along to some half known tune and improvised around the gaps in her memory, weaving a very pleasant melody into the background of the conversations that broke out. Aqua smiled into her mug of hot chocolate, left in no doubt as to how Melanie had gained her nickname. She could play the piano (exceptionally well), the flute (passably), and also the guitar (very adeptly, as she was demonstrating).

Conversation became idle as the evening drew in, and they sat back to watch Sora commandeer the guitar, much to Riku's annoyance. He only knew two chords, so he started a rendition of 'He's Got The Whole World', at which point Riku crawled onto the sofa and stuck his head underneath the cushions.

"I get tired just watching him!" Terra chuckled, still splayed out on the floor, with everyone else while Sora bounced around making up his own lyrics.

"Try living with him…" Riku groaned.

"Well, Ven's just as bad in his own way," Terra said bracingly.

Ven glowered over it him, but then he yelped and dived out of the way as Leo tripped over the pile of plates they had made to one side, and landed with a loud thud, taking the nearest armchair with him with a resounding clatter. Leo shrieked with surprise and nearly upturned the sofa in his haste to reach Aqua and gain some comfort.

"Oh, Leo's definitely worse." Mel said brightly. "He's got extra limbs to wreak havoc with."

"Poor thing," Lea said sympathetically. "Between Sora and Ven, poor old Leo's got no chance."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Sora demanded loudly, nearly dropping the guitar.

"Watch it!" Riku lurched up and nearly toppled off the sofa, clutching his head with a grimace.

"Turn in your 'Master' card," Ven challenged before Sora pretended to hit him with the guitar round the back of the head, crying, "No one insults Riku like that but _me_! I was doing it before it was even cool!"

That sparked a whole round of teasing, insults, and death threats that took them right up to silly hours of the night where everyone was practically falling asleep on each other's shoulders. Aqua insisted that they clean up in the morning, and used the 'I'm the Master' excuse to chivvy them all to bed. Everyone was staying the night, and they divided up the sleeping quarters as they had done before; Lea shared with Terra, Sora and Riku with Ven, and Kairi bunked with Mel. Aqua's room was a bit smaller than the others, but with a great view to compensate – as such it seemed only practical for Kairi to stay in a larger room with more space.

Terra helped her carry everything up to her room, so nothing could get smashed by accident come morning. She carefully placed the writing implements in the drawer of her desk, and set the candleholders along her windowsill alongside the photo frame, before stowing the box of bath products in a convenient gap on her shelf. She took off the jewellery from Kairi that she had been wearing, and placed them in her jewellery box. Then she shook out the throw blanket and smoothed it over the her bed, pleased with the over all effect it had on the room, and touched by the care Mel had taken in making it.

"That everything?" Terra said over the sound of Riku and Sora fighting for the bathroom as they walked passed.

"Yup. Thanks, Terra."

He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry we made such a fuss…I couldn't keep Ven and Sora in check."

Aqua stifled a giggle, imagining it. "That's okay. It was wonderful, and I got to have fun and spend time with my friends…just being me," which she had managed to do – laughing at Sora and Ven's antics, sharing hand prepared food, basking in the light of her friends… "I can't remember the last time I was really just Aqua."

Terra laughed quietly, eyes fixed on the floor. "You'll always be our Aqua, no matter what." He seemed embarrassed by this admission, since he wouldn't look her in the eye. It was just as well, because she felt herself flush too. "Oh, here," he plucked a pile of paper off the desk and handed it to her. "We finished off the work you set."

And a little extra, it seemed; Aqua didn't remember asking for this amount of words.

"I did wonder why you were so eager to work this morning." She laughed, carefully placing them in a tidy pile back on the desk. "I guess I'm lucky to have such great students!"

"And I guess we're lucky to have such a great teacher." Terra said softly, chancing a glance at her before looking away again.

The air between them seemed to prickle with something Aqua wasn't quite used to; it felt like when Zack had asked her for a date, that same feeling of uncertainty and inadequacy. She had grown up here, and trained to wield the keyblade with her surrogate brothers – she'd never had to deal with romantics so when the occasion called for it, she was completely out of her depth. But, then again…as they stood there in the half-light of her room, she examined Terra's expression, and wondered whether she still saw him as a brother.

Ever since they had been reunited she had tried to keep memories of their long separation at the back of her mind. Now memories of that day were creeping up on her: the sheer, overwhelming _relief_, that they were safe, that they were _together_ again. She had held them both so tightly she thought she might choke them, and she remembered burying her face in Terra's shoulder, kissing Ven's hair and holding on tight as if they would be ripped from her again. In that moment, everything had been laid bare – the joy and relief, as well as the sorrow and regret.

As Aqua watched him now, something of that emotion was lingering in his eyes. That change she had noticed in him, the softening in his demeanour…

"Well," he stood up straight again, at last meeting her gaze, his eyes betraying a confusion of feelings not too dissimilar from her own. "Good night,"

"Wait, Terra," she reached for him and grabbed his hand before he could retreat. He didn't resist her touch, but he didn't look up either. "Thank you,"

His smile was gentle, and he closed his eyes, giving her hand a squeeze. "Welcome." Terra let go, and walked to the door, where he hovered for a moment in indecision before saying, "Sleep tight," and retreating into the shadowy corridor, closing the door behind him.

XOXOX

**Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought – I'd really appreciate some feedback! :)**


	6. Ailment and Affliction

**AN: helloooo :) thanks for the reviews guys! Was beginning to worry my writing skills were that bad xD glad to hear you're enjoying it so far. If you've got the time please do leave me a review – I welcome any feedback you have!**

**I actually struggled a lot with this particular chapter, especially towards the end….anyways, let me know what you think! :D**

_**Ailment and Affliction**_

Two days after Aqua's birthday, Leo crawled into the library and laid his head in her lap, wheezing loudly and looking for sympathy. He seemed to have contracted some sort of chest infection, and a slight fever suddenly became a raging temperature by the evening. Mel's herbal remedies and energy healing only took her so far – it became apparent very quickly that he was really ill, and Aqua called on Ansem for help. They had to help him on the way to Radiant Garden, and they made slow progress over the frosty ground to get to the castle. The only up side was that he had produced a winter coat at last – an explosion of long feathers like the guard hairs on a dog, followed by extra fluffy, insulating feathers underneath. "Just in the nick of time," Ven had said, trying to smile. It was the first time Leo had actually been sick, and they were very concerned for him.

Ansem looked a bit worried too when they presented the chick to him, but he put on his scientist face and began a detached and clinical examination. His findings were a bit surprising – he had an infection in his lungs, but also in one of his ears.

"It seems that while his body was expending energy and resources on growing his new coat, his immune system didn't catch the pathogens in time." He said eventually, looking thoughtfully down on Leo. He was curled up on a blanket, feeling very sorry for himself while Mel and Terra stroked his neck soothingly. "I think at least two weeks with some antibiotics, and he'll be fine."

"You sure?" Ven demanded, looking more worked up than the rest of them. He had been beside himself with worry ever since Leo refused to drink any hot chocolate – that was when they realised something was _very_ wrong indeed.

"Yes. But, just to be on the safe side, I'd like to keep him here for a few days, just to keep tabs on him in case it develops any further."

Aqua felt surprisingly reluctant to leave him behind, especially when they made to leave and Leo managed to sit up. He opened his maw and keened loudly, begging them to stay. Mel looked particularly upset, and dashed back to his side to soothe him and kept promising that they would come back for him.

"We'll take good care of him," Ansem promised as Terra gently detached Mel from Leo and led her to the door. "Come back whenever you like to see him."

"He doesn't like onions," Ven said before they finally left.

"Or potatoes," Mel added. They rattled off a list of foods he did like, and Aqua and Terra eventually dragged them out of the castle to go home. "He's never been away from home without us," Mel said anxiously once they were back in the library. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I'm sure he will. Ansem will be taking care of him," Terra said reassuringly. When she didn't look convinced, he put an arm around her shoulders and said, "He's in the best place to be looked after – Ansem has medicines and machines to back him up if anything goes wrong. I'm sure Leo will be bouncing around again soon,"

Mel still looked deeply upset, and Aqua over heard her talking to Ven while she was digging through the shelves looking for a book on the history of magical weapons.

"You okay?"

"I'm really worried…" there was a long pause before she said, "It just…reminds me of my little brother. I feel so…helpless,"

Aqua leaned around the corner of the section she was rooting through just in time to see Ven giving her a one armed hug.

"C'mon, cheer up! You heard Terra, he'll be okay. Ansem won't let anything happen to him, and he said we can visit whenever we want. I'm sure we can persuade Aqua to let us go."

"Oh no you don't," Aqua said firmly, dumping a pile of books on the table, making them both jump. "You're staying right here and finishing your homework," she smiled at his horrified expression. "Mel, if you want to go see Leo tomorrow, either Terra or I can take you. Ventus, you've got work to do," Ven glowered at her and stalked off in a huff muttering darkly to himself. Aqua put a hand on Mel's head and said, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled weakly. "I just suffer from chronic worriment."

"I know the feeling," Aqua sighed, thinking of how much she worried about Ven and Terra.

Speaking of which, Terra seemed to be avoiding her at the moment. He was polite, joined in with group conversations, and of course actively helped out with Leo's illness, but beyond that…he seemed to be trying not to be on his own with her. They had been talking to Ven, walking down the corridor together, and when Ven decided to go back up to the library Terra made some excuse about dinner and retreated with great haste in the opposite direction of the kitchen. It shouldn't really have bothered Aqua – she had far more pressing matters to deal with, but it still stung when she couldn't even talk to him. Her longest childhood friend was avoiding her, and when Leo became ill she didn't know if she was coming or going anymore. After two days it was driving her mad.

Wanting some fresh air, Aqua trudged into the grounds of the castle, treading carefully over the ice and snow on the ground. There were several sets of footprints in a jumbled mess, and judging by the shape and size of the prints she guessed Mel and Ven had been sparring. One set led back to the courtyard, and another had split off towards the gardens. Aqua found Mel sat on the low wall at the edge of the lookout point, watching the yellow tinted clouds slowly rolling towards them.

"Hey Mel,"

"Hi,"

Aqua sat down beside her, and looked up at the sky. She remembered the last time she had sat here, with Ven and Terra – back before she had become a Master, back when they were still blissfully unaware of the state of things, back when she had been able to talk to Terra freely…

"I hope Leo comes home soon," Mel said, looking down from the sky at the mountains in the distance. "Everyone's been feeling weird since he got ill."

"How do you mean?" Aqua asked, watching a lone eagle in the distance.

"Ven's pretty put out, and he's worrying about everyone else. You're worried about everyone, I'm worried about Leo and I'm fighting my own internal demons on a related issue, and Terra's hiding himself from me for some reason."

"You two?" that surprised her.

"I think its because he knows he can't hide his emotions from me, and he either doesn't want me to worry or he wants me to keep my nose out of his business." She didn't look at all insulted by the notion. "I haven't been maintaining a shield because here I don't really need to, and any energy I pick up from you three is recycled back, like an exchange. But I think I might put it back up, if it'll make him feel better."

"What kind of shield?"

"Oh, I just consciously bring my aura closer to my body and make sure it reflects everything that's not my own energy back. It's what I used to do all the time, but like I said, I don't really need to do it for protection here…"

That made sense. Aqua wondered out loud what was the cause of Terra's behaviour, but Mel disappointed her with a shrug. "You don't know?"

"He's confused about something, and worried about Leo, and worried about how Ven's taking it. And he's worried about how I'm taking it too. I don't know where the confusion came from, and I've sort of been trying to block it out. He's getting a bit tangled up, but I don't think I should instigate anything. You're supposed to wait for someone to come to you for help…" she looked thoughtful. "I do predict, however, that he'll come down with a chest infection before long."

"How can you tell that?" Aqua asked, mystified.

"I get the feeling he's the sort of person who dwells on things, and stress goes straight to his chest. I learnt a little bit about five-element acupuncture, but I'm not very good at administering it. Basically, everyone has one or two elements that are more likely to be unbalanced than the others, and metal people tend to take things on the lung meridian. I think he's a metal person, because I am too, and he's reacting in a similar way, even though I can't see what the catalyst is." She paused for a moment before concluding, "I spend too much time thinking."

Aqua laughed unexpectedly. "I think we all do, that's our problem."

Mel frowned sadly up at the sky and exhaled deeply. "I know Leo's being cared for, but…"

"He is still effectively a child," Aqua reasoned. "Of course you're worried – he's our little baby! We'd be silly not to be worried."

"Some baby." Mel smiled, and then burst out laughing. Her whole being seemed to brighten again. "I wonder what Phil would say if he saw him again?"

"Not so much like a scrawny little chicken anymore!" Ven called to them before dashing to their side, kicking up the snow as he went. "Terra wants me to announce that dinner's in the oven and he's going to bed cause he feels sick."

Aqua raised an eyebrow at Mel and said, "Did he say what was wrong?"

"Said his throat hurts. He couldn't stop coughing, either,"

As they trudged back up to the courtyard to get out of the cold, Aqua wondered vaguely how they had ever gotten on without Mel around. It had only been since the end of the summer, but it felt like she had been here for years. Even the last couple of days without Leo felt eerily quiet, even though he had only been with them for four months.

Terra did in fact come down with something, but Mel intervened with a tincture and gave him a rock to carry around, which seemed to do the trick. He didn't actively avoid Aqua, but neither did he solicit her company, and he became somewhat quiet and reserved when they were alone together. It still troubled her a little bit, but Aqua chose to try and not let it get to her. Instead, she focused on Leo, and after only a week away he had improved a great deal.

They went to visit, and Mel was bowled over by an excitable Leo, who had the strength to get up and chase them again. Mel flung her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly while he tried to lick her face, humming happily. Not long after, he was discharged from Ansem's care, with a bottle of tablets to be administered twice daily and a notebook to record observations. Leo was so glad to be home again they had to forcibly restrain him so he didn't catch a cold in the snow outside. They were battered by another snowstorm, and had to take precautions to make sure Leo didn't make another bid for freedom. His health improved, but he became short of breath very quickly and needed to sit down to regain it – if he sat outside trying to catch his breath he'd catch a cold or worse, so he was kept under near constant supervision to ensure he didn't get sick again.

After a couple of days, they all sank back into some semblance of normality, and Aqua had to deliver some news that Ven took deeply to heart. As Sora and Riku had missed more than a year of schooling, they had had to sit remedial lessons. It seemed their friends and families collectively were sympathetic to the reasons why they had missed so much, but that didn't stop Sora from throwing a tantrum about the impending maths exam that prevented them all from coming to visit.

"Kairi's helping them study, and she can't drive the gummi ship by herself anyway," Aqua told them over dinner. "When they've finished their chemistry tests in two weeks we'll try to arrange another training session."

Ven stared gloomily into his soup bowl. "So they won't be coming with us to see Phil?" he moaned.

"Nope." Terra said unconcernedly, turning the page of a book Mel had leant him.

Leo placed his head on the end of the table and whined appealingly for attention and extra food. "I think he's heading for another growth spurt," Mel said uncertainly, placing her bowl on the floor so he could have the leftovers.

"Best dustbin we've ever had," Terra grinned down at him as he licked the bowl clean.

"How big is he going to grow, anyway?" Ven asked, wide eyed at the thought.

Aqua had been perusing the battered old dragon book, and she didn't care to comment on the final dimensions of his figure when he finished growing.

"So, just us for the coliseum?" Terra asked as they commenced on the washing up.

"Lea's going to try and make it,"

Ven left to take a shower, and Leo tried to sneak off unnoticed before Mel raced after him to ensure he didn't escape outside. At first Aqua was worried that Terra would try and run off too, but he kept talking about the visit to Phil, and he seemed far more relaxed than he had been recently. She smiled, enjoying the flow of the conversation and the ease in the awkwardness that had been building between them. The next day she found Terra searching frantically underneath a cabinet for something, and he had managed to get himself lodged there. Swearing loudly, he tried to twist himself free and only got more stuck.

"Terra?" she called to him, and he redoubled his efforts to get free. "Terra, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that!"

"I'm fine!" he snapped, managing to drag himself mostly out, but his arm guard was still caught underneath the cabinet.

"Here," she knelt down to help, but Terra recoiled.

"I'm _fine_!" he insisted, pushing her away.

"Don't be such a big baby!" she snapped, whacking him round the back of the head. "Here, let me just-!"

"I _said_ I don't need help!"

"Would you hold still?!"

They scrapped with each other while she carefully prised his guard from his arm so he could free himself, and then she handed it to him after wiping the dust from it. Terra was fuming, and refused to look at her, face bright red. Apparently, it was an affront to his manliness to accept help from a girl – even if she was technically his master. He took the guard and strapped it to his shoulder again, still not looking at her. Now that they weren't physically struggling with each other, some of that awkwardness seemed to be creeping back into the atmosphere. He glared at his boots, angry and upset about something by the creases around his eyes.

"What were you doing under there, anyway?" Aqua asked.

It was an innocent enough question, but he shot her a worried look before turning away again. "Looking for something." He said nonchalantly.

"And what are you looking for, exactly?" she pried.

Terra tried to stand up and beat a hasty retreat but she grabbed him by the shoulder and pinned him down. He was _not_ getting out of it that easily.

"I…" he sighed and looked at the floor dejectedly. "I can't find my wayfinder. I've been looking everywhere…"

So _that's_ what he was so upset over. "I'm sure it'll turn up," she said soothingly. Her own wayfinder was nestled in her pocket wherever she went. She knew he always kept it close, and he wasn't stupid with it – wherever it had disappeared to, it wasn't his fault.

Terra didn't say anything to that, just stared morosely at the floor. It looked like he felt he'd let Aqua down, which of course wasn't the case. She opened her mouth to say something comforting, but Terra's head snapped up right before he dived at her, sprawling them both on the floor against the wall. When Aqua managed to right herself, she saw Leo's tail whisking by round a corner, and she sighed.

"What are we going to do with him?" she asked no one in particular.

Ven came dashing out of nowhere, leaping over Terra's legs and racing around the corner after Leo, yelling, "Hurry up Mel, he's getting away!"

Some moments later Mel came running after him, panting and clearly unable to keep pace. "Hi guys!" she said breathlessly, turning down a different corridor to the one Ven had taken and disappearing.

Aqua stood up and followed, wondering what on earth he had done this time. She heard Terra moved behind her, and looked over her shoulder to see him following. Ven seemed to be heading Leo off, or herding him since they both came running into the entrance hall where Mel ambushed him after arriving from a different direction to the one Leo had clearly been anticipating. He backed up into a corner, and seemed to decide he'd never get past them by flying, so he conceded with Mel's wishes and dropped the things he had in his mouth.

One was a heavy candleholder, shaped like a four-pointed star that Master Eraqus had kept on his desk, and the other was Terra's wayfinder. He was so relieved he practically hugged Mel when she gave it back to him, after carefully wiping it clean with her green button down shirt.

"I thought I'd lost it!"

"So _that's_ why!" Ven punched himself in the forehead. "Leo, you shouldn't go round stealing things from people!"

Poor Leo looked contrite, and Mel gently pushed Ven out of the way so she could talk to him more reasonably. Ven of course would rally on Terra's side, and was less likely to give the dragon chick a kind word.

"Think how you'd feel if someone took your gummi toys from you, the ones Sora and Riku made especially." She said softly, and Leo turned his large amber eyes on her. "If they got lost or broken, you'd be really upset too. So think about how you'd feel before you take someone else's things."

Leo nuzzled Terra's hand, begging for forgiveness – it looked genuine enough, so he laughed and scratched Leo behind the ears. "Nothing's broken, so I guess no harm done."

Ven scoffed, hefting the candleholder into his hands. "I'm taking this back now," he tottered off, carrying the holder very carefully and slowly because of its weight and delicacy.

"What is it?" Mel asked, pointing at the wayfinder.

"Oh, this?" Terra held it up, grinning. "It's a wayfinder. Aqua made it for me. I thought I'd lost it,"

Leo whined apologetically, crouching close to the floor. It seemed to be his way of showing submission, the same way some dogs did, bearing his neck at a vulnerable angle.

"It's really pretty," she said, eyes wide as she took it in. Terra handed it back to her for a closer look, and she handled it with great care as if it were a national treasure.

Aqua looked up at Terra, who was smiling sheepishly, and gave him an evil smirk. "Wow, Terra. You got yourself stuck under that cabinet for nothing!"

He snatched the wayfinder back and stalked off, not deigning to reply. Mel giggled, but checked herself quickly. "I _thought_ he was annoyed about something."

Aqua laughed, and fished her own wayfinder from her pocket to show her. Leo watched, mesmerised by the shiny object, and she playfully batted him away. "It's not for eating, Leo. You look with your eyes, not your teeth!"

"Is it a charm?" Mel asked turning the blue star over in her hands.

"Yes. There's a tree out there, with star-shaped fruit. It represents an unbreakable connection, so if you and your friends carry a wayfinder nothing can ever tear you apart. At least," she added sadly. "That's the theory."

"Even if it takes years to come into effect, it still counts, right?" she was looking into glass, stroking the shape of the points like a flower's petals. "Pretty…" she cooed, holding it up to the light. "I really like blue…"

Leo sat back on his haunches and raised his head to get a better look, just as wide eyed and entranced as Mel. She hastily handed it back to Aqua to avoid putting him into temptation, and they went back to the library to carry on working, chatting amiably while Leo trailed after them, looking quite abashed.

XOXOX

"It's nearly Christmas!" Ven sang, practically dancing past as he entered the fighting area.

Mel raised her keyblades, eyes closed as she went through a kata that had been giving her trouble recently. She sidestepped out of Ven's way as he bounced past laughing, and she continued running through the movements with difficulty. Ven's manic laughter was probably putting her off; Terra knew it was grating on his nerves…

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" Aqua asked in a defeated tone that suggested she knew she had already lost the argument

"Three weeks! Hey, it's already December!" Ven insisted, taking up the ready position and balancing on the balls of his feet. "Can we get the decorations out, then?"

Aqua wilted like a flower and gave him a despairing look. "Can we practise first? Then I _promise _we'll get the tinsel out."

"Yey!" Ven jumped for joy, than yelped as Aqua went for him while his guard was down.

Terra sighed, wiping his hair out of his eyes. He had managed to sprain his ankle, and so he was sat on the steps of the dais watching the others train. Leo had sauntered over and dropped his head in Terra's lap, humming loudly with pleasure at seeing him taking a break. The two of them watched as Aqua first fought Ven, then pitted him against Mel, who was still struggling with a particular technique. When Aqua eventually called an end to the session, Ven whooped for joy and did a cartwheel before shrieking, "Christmas Time! C'mon Mel!" he was about to grab her by the arm and run off to the cupboard of seasonal decorations, when Leo bounced to his feet and ran over.

Ven quite sensibly dived out of the way, and Leo tried to imitate the cartwheel he had seen being performed, only to fall short of the mark and land painfully on his side, his wing at an odd angle. For a moment, there was silence, but then Leo staggered to his feet and hobbled on three legs to Aqua, crying with pain. Leo hadn't properly cried since he was a hatchling, but big tears rolled down his cheeks as he limped over. It turned out he'd sprained his ankle, just like Terra, and bruised his wing quite badly. They both sat in a corner of the common room that evening while Ven went crazy with the lights and tinsel and Aqua ran after him, trying to curb his 'artistic' urges.

"It's okay, boy." Terra said, rubbing his neck while Leo pouted. "We can be invalids together." He wondered what Phil would say when he found out – he'd fallen down the stairs first thing in the morning because he didn't look where he was going, and he was too lazy to flick the lights on. No grand story of daring heroics or chivalry, just plain old stupidity. Phil was going to go mental at him, something along the lines of 'what sort of role model do you think _you_ are then?'

Leo grumbled and tucked his tail up to his nose, closing his eyes before snoring theatrically. His pride was wounded, but so was his body this time. Aqua had very carefully bandaged the both of them, and Terra was acutely annoyed with Ven's silly little grin as he bobbed in the background, smirking and slipping in snide remarks, knowing full well Terra couldn't do anything to stop him. He had tried throwing his keyblade at Ven's head, but the dent in the wall had made Aqua quite angry, and despite everything Terra didn't really want to rile her up. Mainly because he liked being alive, but also he didn't want to upset her too much…

Mel came by and sat down on Leo's other side and started rubbing oil into his wing feathers. Leo groaned and turned to look at her imploringly. "Ven's going to go decorate the kitchen. He'll be gone in a moment," she said calmly, and Leo's tail thumped against the floor happily.

"Every damn year we go through this…" Terra muttered darkly, looking at the half finished tree in the corner of the room.

"It isn't Christmas without the seasonal arguments." Mel said simply. "I used to argue every year about the fact that white chocolate isn't actually chocolate. And every year we had to open the big book of knowledge and remind my cousin that I was in fact right the first time round."

Terra snorted. "You should see Ven on Christmas Day. We'll all be running for cover."

Leo growled as Mel touched a tender bruise, and had difficulty settling down again. "Do you think Phil's going to be annoyed when you can't fight?"

Terra rolled his eyes, stretching his wounded leg out. "Probably. Not a lot I can do about it, though. I'll just sub Ven in, instead. He'll like that," it would give him a chance to practise, to show off, and get him off Terra's back – it was the perfect plan.

Aqua came back, looking somewhat frazzled before she checked their various bandages and asked Mel to help her keep an eye on Ven. It sounded like he had nearly broken his neck, and two invalids were enough for one day. They convinced Ven to come back to the common room, and he set about finishing the tree with a box of baubles he had managed to find. Leo strained to see from where he was sitting – all the new shinies were hard to resist – but his sprains and bruises defeated him. Aqua flopped onto the floor beside Terra and leant back against Leo's side, heaving a great sigh.

"Sorry about today." He said quietly. He didn't want Aqua running around worrying about him, since there was enough of that to see to without him adding to her burden. Besides, it was just his ankle…

"Just promise me I won't wake up tomorrow to find your spine snapped in two." She groaned, rubbing her eyes.

Terra smiled and poked her in the stomach. She reacted too slowly and swatted at thin air. When he tried again she gave him a withering look before smacking him in the face with the back of her hand.

"Seriously,"

"What, can't take being beaten by the invalid?" he asked, trying to wind her up.

"I'm going to snap your spine myself in a minute," she retorted at him.

Terra laughed but laid off; there was a line, and unlike Lea he knew when to stop. He watched Ven wreak havoc upon the room while Mel followed behind, clearing stray decorations up and sweeping tinsel pieces into a neat pile. Leo fell asleep, and not long after so did Aqua; she had closed her eyes for a moment, and next thing she was slowly capsizing to one side. Terra shuffled over to try and catch her, but she ended up leaning on his shoulder, completely out for the count. He couldn't help but smile down at her; that burning passion and driven sense of purpose that possessed her when she was awake was gone. Now, she was just like anyone else, vulnerable in her sleep; she looked so much younger, as if all those years of trial and suffering had never happened.

Terra found he had dosed off too, and was woken when something dug into his ribcage. At first he didn't know where he was, until he remembered watching Ven putting up the decorations: he was no where in sight, and Mel was sat cross legged on the floor by the armchair, chin in her hand and slowly leaning from side to side ever so slightly as if in a trance, eyes closed. She was also apparently fast asleep. Something nudged him again, and Terra tried to straighten up against Leo's side, getting a mouthful of feathers when he shifted in his sleep and flexed his wings. Terra was about to pin the blame on him, when the thing nudged him again, and he looked down to find Aqua turning restlessly in her sleep. There were lines creasing her eyes and mouth, and she looked like she was in pain.

Wondering whether to shake her awake or not, Terra sat up straighter to avoiding elbowing Leo awake, and then prodded Aqua gently on her temple. She stilled, and he hoped that whatever was bothering her had passed. But then she twisted around; frowning deeply as her arm clipped his injured foot. Terra suppressed a yelp as pain laced through his ankle, and he heard Aqua moan as if in discomfort.

Throwing caution to the wings, he poked her in the ribs and called her name softly, deciding he'd rather face her wrath than let her lie there trapped in whatever nightmare she was having. "Aqua, wake up," he hissed, all but shaking her.

Aqua didn't respond; she went still again, just before she awoke with a small cry. She jerked and lost her balance, falling from where she had been leaning against him and Leo and landing face down on the floor, thrashing wildly as though she were under attack.

"Aqua!"

She stared up at him, eyes wide and breathing heavily; she raised a hand to touch his cheek, and then pulled at a lock of his hair. A bubble of laughter escaped her lips and she visibly relaxed, though she was shaking. "Just a dream." She told herself.

"You okay?" he asked, trying to reach her with some difficulty; his leg made it hard to move gracefully.

"Yes, I'm fine," Aqua straightened out her clothes and smoothed her hair back, still shaking. Terra took her hand that she raised to wave him away, and felt how cold they were. "Just a silly dream!" she insisted, avoiding his gaze. She didn't want him to see her fear. Aqua hugged her knees close to her chest and stared into the fire for something to do, her breathing slowly returning to normal.

Terra manoeuvred himself slowly so he was sat behind Aqua, and laid his cheek against her shoulder blade. She took a deep breath and the shaking mostly stopped. "All right?"

"Yeah…" she shook her head contradictorily. "I just…for a moment, I thought that…_this _had all been a dream." She leaned her head back and to one side to rest against his.

"I could pinch you if it'd make you feel better," Terra blurted out after a long pause. Rather than hitting him or rolling her eyes, Aqua giggled. "Wow, something's really wrong with you!" he laid the back of his hand on her forehead. "I think you should go to bed,"

"I'll be fine." She insisted. "I'm not ready to go to sleep yet."

"You feel a bit warm," and clammy, but he didn't say that out loud. Instead, he let Aqua lean against him until she did fall asleep again, hopefully this time with more pleasant dreams. Terra clumsily laid her on floor before he stood up stiffly and went to wake Mel, who hadn't been disturbed by the little episode. She jerked and looked up bleary eyed when he shook her shoulder gentle, taking his advice to go on up to bed without resistance. They roused Leo between them and she led him out of the room after checking that Terra would be able to wake Aqua. Well, he _said_ he would, but he had no intention of doing so. Instead, he waited for Mel and Leo to disappear down the corridor before he reached down and gently lifted Aqua in his arms. It was difficult with his ankle, but he walked slowly and managed to avoid Mel and Ven on the way upstairs.

In her room, Terra laid Aqua on her bed, taking the blanket Mel had made and throwing it over her, tucking her in the way he had seen her tuck Ven in when he was much younger. He lifted a lock of hair from her face and felt her forehead again; not quite so warm, but still a bit clammy.

"Mmm…" she made a fist and twitched in her sleep. Then, in a small voice that didn't seem to belong to her, she said, "Terra…Ven…" he reached out and took her hand, and she relaxed again.

Terra tried to avoid those painful memories at all costs – despite what anyone said to him, he still couldn't forget it was he Aqua had thrown herself into the darkness for. Every nightmare she had, born from her stint in the Realm of Darkness was fundamentally his fault. No matter how many times he was told otherwise, he would never forget her sacrifice.

"I'm sorry," he told her, knowing she couldn't hear him.

Aqua stirred, and then her eyes fluttered open briefly. She probably thought she was still asleep, because she closed them again, giving his hand a squeeze. "Not your fault…" she murmured.

XOXOX

"Ready?" Ven shouted over the howling wind at them all.

Leo huddled miserably against the gale and balanced himself awkwardly for flight with his injured limbs. Aqua felt very sorry for him, but he had insisted that he was fine for carrying Mel, going as far as plucking her from Terra's glider by the scruff of her neck before dumping her on his back.

"I guess," Terra shouted back, looking hacked off at the weather. It had rained on them, and then frozen over, which had made walking around outside a death wish, and he hadn't shut up about it all morning.

Despite his display of anger and irritation, Aqua followed him wonderingly as he walked around, trying to figure out what had been a dream last night, and what hadn't been. She'd had a nightmare of the Darkness, and she had definitely woken up, and then she must have fallen asleep again because when she came to she was in her room with no recollection of having walked there. She also remembered Terra apologising to her, but she had been lying down at the time, rather than walking down the corridors of darkness in her dreams…but then again, dreams were odd like that: the landscape moulded and reshaped itself over and over again, and she never questioned it while she was asleep while if it happened in reality she would question her sanity.

"Let's go then!" Ven bounced with impatience, as well as from the cold.

When they arrived at the Coliseum, it was only marginally warmer. The ground was covered in frost, but there was no snow or ice, which was a huge relief. Aqua laughed when Leo stuck his nose into the ground, snorting with amazement. He'd never seen _just_ frost before – apparently he thought it was quite pretty, because he kept swaying from side to side as the weak sunlight danced on the millions of tiny crystals that littered the ground.

"Bout time!" Phil called to them from the doors, and then did a double take. "Whoa! Where'd the dragon come from?"

"You remember Leo!" Ven said loudly as Leo crawled along on his belly, sniffing at Phil before trying to pounce. "He sure remembers you!"

"Gah!" Phil pushed him away as Leo tried to give him a welcoming lick. "Get off me! So – not quite the scrawny chicken he used to be, huh?"

"He's had a growth spurt." Mel said.

"Or three," Terra slipped in.

Phil chuckled. "Sure has! Sorry guys, you'll have to wait to use the stadium, I got a group of kids in there practising, and I want them to stay there where I can see them."

"This the bad seed group?" Terra asked.

"Yup. As long as I have my eye on them in there, it should be fine come back in a bit, yeah?" he spied Terra's limp as he sidestepped Leo's loving embrace. "What did you do to yourself, Hero?"

"He fell down the stairs!" Ven burst out giggling while Terra glowered at him malevolently.

Phil looked wholly unimpressed and was just gearing up to lecture him on Hero Rule No.58 when Aqua gently took him by the arm and said, "We'll come back later then. We can revise some magic principles while we wait."

Ven looked like Christmas had been cancelled, but it mollified Phil who then chivvied them along and told them sternly to be back in two hours time.

"I didn't mean it," Aqua smiled at Ven's expression once Phil was out of earshot. "You already recited it to me a hundred times! Why don't we go sight seeing?"

"All right!" Ven did a little victory dance and hugged Terra around the middle.

"Get off me!" he pushed the younger man away, struggling to stay balanced on his injured ankle.

"I'm going to get some drinks!" Ven announced, and ran off to the plaza.

Leo trundled after him, hopping awkwardly on his own injured leg, and Mel scuttled off after him to make sure they were both okay. Ven got them some sort of warm smoothies made from fruit, which actually tasted really nice, and they wondered around the sleepy town without seeing too many people, and then they found a huge garden complex open to the general public. Mel's eyes shone as she walked under the metal archway, and she scampered off in such of something, Leo and Ven close on her heels.

"What is it?" Ven demanded, nearly colliding with her when she stopped in her tracks.

"Can't you feel it?" she asked, the closest to impatient Aqua had ever heard her. Then again, it sounded more like eagerness than impatience. "There's a centre of light in this place! It's vibrating like a group of quartz crystals!"

"So?" Ven blinked, completely nonplussed.

"Pretty shiny rocks!" Mel bounced on the balls of her feet, her face shining like the stars.

Ven blinked again. "Huh?"

"I'm a girl. I like sparkly things." And with that she bustled off into the gardens, following a route through a gap in a hedge that led into a maze.

"Oooh, shiny stuff!" Ven laughed and ran after her. "Wait up!" Leo watched them go before he made his mind up to follow them, at a very slow pace compared to his usual speed.

Aqua and Terra laughed at him before they meandered off in their own direction. In a small section cornered off by tall and ornate hedges, was a gallery of stone statues in white marble – depictions of gods and goddess, titans and nymphs, some brightly painted while others were plain and unadorned.

"Wow!" Aqua gazed up at a stark white centaur, caught in mid gallop. She wondered around the garden, admiring the statues as she went. She broke from her revery when Terra coughed.

"You feeling okay?"

"Yes, thank you. How come?"

Terra shrugged, avoiding her gaze again. "Just checking after last night."

"Terra, I'm fine. Really!" she smiled. "It was just a dream. Anyway," she frowned at him, trying to figure out what was going through his mind. "I don't remember going up to bed. How did I get there?"

"I carried you," he said, feigning nonchalance.

"All by yourself? With your ankle?"

Terra laughed, looking up at a statue of Aphrodite. "Trust you to worry over _that_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aqua challenged him. "What if you fell and broke your neck?"

"Then you'd have a legitimate reason to kill me."

Aqua sighed, rubbing her temples. "Boys!" she hissed, stalking off down an aisle of smaller figurines arranged in a wavy line. Terra grabbed her wrist before she could get too far and tugged gently. She stopped and turned to look at him, and he looked away again, a distinct blush high in his cheeks.

"I was just…worried." He confessed. "I don't like seeing you like that."

"Like what?" she asked, surprised and a little bit scared. What state had she been in?

"I just…" Terra struggled to find the right words, still clutching her wrist like a lifeline. "Don't want you upset, or scared. You always brush things off and act like it's not such a big deal."

"Because it isn't. Terra, it was _just a dream_. Dreams can't hurt you, no matter how scary they are. I just have an over active imagination, that's all."

Terra's lips quirked at the corners. Master Eraqus had read them a story once right before bed. Aqua had been so terrified of the ghoul in the story she didn't sleep a wink all night, and their master had had to explain to her it was just a story, and they were only scary dreams that couldn't hurt you – instead, you had to fight the dreams so that when you faced the monsters in reality, it wouldn't be so scary. He had remarked to Master Yen Sid when he thought they weren't listening that she merely had an 'over active imagination'.

"Just making sure," he said evenly.

Aqua smiled, touched by his concern nonetheless. "Umm…Terra?"

"Yeah?"

She looked pointedly at her wrist, still held in his hand. He let go and made a show of brushing his hair out of his face, trying to gain some composure. Aqua didn't want to make the awkwardness escalate, and she didn't really want to upset him, but she couldn't stifle the little giggle that bubbled up.

"What?" he demanded.

Aqua shook her head, trying to contain her laughter. It wasn't _that_ funny, after all… "Nothing just…" she looked up at him with a smile. "You're such a goof ball…" she was worried he'd take it the badly, but Terra laughed, and she couldn't contain her sniggering any longer. They clung to each other for support, breathless with mirth at the sheer stupidity of it all. By the time Aqua had regained her composure, she couldn't even remember why it had been so funny.

"If anyone's a goof ball, it's _you_!" he told her, giving her a playful shove like when they were kids.

"Yeah! I'm such an idiot! I actually put up with you and Ven all day long!"

"What are you going to do about it?" he challenged, getting right up in her face with an evil smirk.

Aqua matched his stance, having to look up to match the difference in height. "Maybe I'll just pack my bags and leave you to stew in your own mess," she said defiantly. "And I'll take Mel with me."

"Okay fine. But we get Leo," Terra said swiftly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise we were getting a divorce." Aqua replied.

"Yes we are, and I'm taking the good china!"

Aqua tried and failed yet again to stop laughing – the whole thing was just so ludicrously stupid. She took a step back to giver herself some more air, and felt something sharp prick her between her shoulder blades. She gasped and jumped forward, rubbing the point and wincing. Terra looked instantly concerned, but she waved him away; when she turned to see what had caught her, she saw with annoyance it was one of the little statues on an ornate plinth. Some chubby little cherub with a sickeningly sweet smile and a sharp barbed arrow knocked into its bow.

Aqua scowled at it; the force she had collided with it made the point on her back smart painfully. "Stupid…" she muttered darkly to herself.

Terra put an arm around her, his hand covering the small wound on her back, and she felt the tug and flow of magic as he cast a healing spell to alleviate the pain. She turned to thank him, but the words died before they reached her tongue – any trace of lighthearted teasing was gone. His eyes were deep, intense, so utterly sincere… she was caught in his gaze, paralysed. It wasn't like her at all to be brought to a stand still just by a glance, she wasn't so easily disconcerted. Then why was her heart pounding in her chest, and why couldn't she speak? It was just Terra, her best friend, the boy she had grown up with…why was everything suddenly so different now?

Maybe he was just as stunned as she was, because Terra didn't speak. He blinked slowly, and tilted his head slightly so the sunlight caught his eyes with a twinkle. It registered dimly in the back of Aqua's mind how stupid it was to be thinking of _that_ of all things right now – like some love struck teenager. For crying out loud, she was a grown woman! And a Keyblade Master!

When Terra eventually leaned down a fraction of an inch, hesitating, her heart stopped before beating even more frantically than before. She knew without a doubt in that instant he was on the verge of kissing her. Her mind was simultaneously ground to a halt, and running at a hundred miles an hour; she let herself reach for the energy world, just to get confirmation from him, and the realisation that dawned on Aqua hit her like a tonne of bricks – no matter how well you hid your aura, your heart couldn't truly lie, and neither was his.

Terra; her bestest, oldest friend, who she had grown up with, trained and sparred with, shared so many laughs and too many painful tears with, was in love with her.

It all went racing through her mind, as her mind commanded her body to remain petrified, in just a matter of seconds. In realty, all he'd done was tilt his head forward, his hand still on her back. All those emotions, she felt coursing through her, in just a few seconds…

Leo roared from somewhere nearby and part of the surrounding hedge at the other end of the gallery collapsed. Ven shouted something in alarm, and as Leo flailed around to get back on his feet his huge wing clipped one of the statues; it rocked ominously before it keeled over, narrowly missing Ven by about an inch.

Aqua and Terra released each other and raced to ascertain the damage, the moment completely shattered.

"What happened?!" she demanded, grabbing Ven and dragging him away from the broken statue before she started throttling him. "You gave me a heart attack! You could have been seriously hurt!"

Mel came skidding round a corner and tripped head long over the head of the broken sculpture, saved from crashing into the ground by Terra and his reflexes.

"What happened?" she stammered, rushing to Leo who was whining with pain. "Where did you two go? What were you doing?"

Ven tried to speak, but Aqua was shaking him. Yes, she was annoyed and relieved that the intense moment between her and Terra was over, but Ven had nearly got himself very badly hurt. She was not going to let him off lightly for this.

"Oh well," Terra said, lifting the maimed head of a very familiar looking god. "It's only him,"

"Who's that?" Mel asked.

"Hades. Lord of The Dead."

"Douche Bag Extraordinaire." Ven added.

Aqua shook him. "You defaced public property, nearly got yourself killed, Leo's-!"

"I wasn't gonna die!" Ven struggled to get out of her grip. "You're making it sound way worse than it actually is!"

Aqua let go of him, and Ven scuttled out of her reach. She sighed, finding her limbs shaking. In the aftermath of what had happened, she found her whole body trembling; of course she was worried about Ven and Leo, and she was still standing back in amazement and awe of what she had felt from Terra.

Ven seized control of the situation when no one else did, and he started pushing and shoving Terra towards the entrance of the gardens, chiding him about being late to Phil's training date as if he hadn't been nearly crushed under a large marble statue moments before. Mel smiled apologetically at Aqua before she scampered off after them, calling to Ven to make sure he was perfectly fine. Leo slunk up to Aqua's side and pressed his great-feathered muzzle again her cheek, humming apologetically. She sighed, and reached up to stroke him, her mind tumbling through too many thoughts to count.

"I don't understand," she told him, looking up to the place where the other three had marched out of the gallery. "How I couldn't see it before." Was she really that dense?

Leo snorted, breathing warm air over her face in the chilly weather. His eyes were unfathomably deep, but he had no wise words to comfort her with. She closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against his, feeling his entire being thrumming with strong energy; a solid, grounding presence.

When Aqua opened her eyes again and looked up at Leo, she had reached a conclusion. It didn't matter the exact time and place it had happened, though part of her thought back to the day they had been reunited, and that warm feeling inside her intensified. But that didn't matter at all – what _did_ matter was that she knew now what it was, and it filled her up with such joy and peace of mind.

She was in love with Terra.

And it had only taken…

Aqua went back to look at the statue that she had impaled herself on, to get a closer look. A cupid bearing a loaded bow, with a heart shaped barb for an arrowhead. She slapped her forehead and laughed to herself. It was so utterly stupid…

Leo meandered over and nuzzled her hand, and she rewarded him by scratching his ears. "I'm such a fool." She told him, knowing he wouldn't understand what she was on about. She barely knew herself.

Leo snorted, and made a grating sound at the back of his throat, that reverberated through the soles of her feet. From where he was crouched against the ground, he reached up to lick her face, cooing like a bird before he thumper his tail against the ground and said, "Tehrahhh. Ahwkahh." He pressed his snout against her chest, directly over her heart, eyes closed and humming even louder than before.

Aqua smiled and hugged the dragon tightly. Even he, a four-month-old dragon, had seen the obvious, and she could only conclude that it was official.

She was dense.

XOXOX


	7. The Family That Trains Together

**AN: this chapter was a bit of a pain to write, if I'm honest xD as always, let me know what you think :)**

_**The Family That Trains Together**_

Aqua sat at the table, falling into the deadly trap of thinking long and hard, and she was managing to work herself up into a real mess inside. Phil had made them train, with an audience of several youths, even when it started pouring with rain in the freezing air. Terra and Leo had hunched miserably on the sidelines while he was pestered with questions from Killion's gang. Killion himself was nowhere to be seen, which may have been just as well. Surrounded as she had been by so many people, Aqua hadn't had a chance to talk to Terra, and by the time they got home – drenched, shivering, and Mel nursing what promised to be a terrible head cold – she was too physically and emotionally exhausted to chase him when he inexplicably disappeared.

Dinner was a quiet affair; Ven tried to liven things up and teased Terra about the 'broth' he had made for them – still essentially soup, but with a different name with Mel's impending illness in mind. He failed to get anyone to respond, and sat frowning at his bowl; even long after Leo had polished the contents off.

Thanks to Ansem's medication, and his new and 'improved' winter feathers, Leo had escaped catching a cold. Using his massive wings as an umbrella was a huge help too; Terra had been somewhat lucky to escape the downpour. Aqua tore herself from her revery to fret over Mel for a moment, as she coughed and spluttered through her meal. Her words about 'taking it to the chest' sprang to mind, and it looked as though she was wrapped up in her own thoughts. That warmth in the air that Aqua was beginning to register as her aura (as opposed to just feeling out for the energy resonating from the heart) was quite withdrawn right now. She asked innocently and as lightly as possible, and Mel managed a laugh.

"When you're sad or sick your energy usually comes back in towards your body. It's a defence mechanism against picking up on other people's negativity on top of your own, but it also focuses effort on self-healing. I am _very_ tired…"

She looked pretty rough, so Aqua accepted the excuse and suggested she went to bed early. Leo seemed fairly well, considering he was still on antibiotics and had torn the gardens down, on top of his ankle and wings. He kept pestering everyone for food and attention, and nearly knocked Terra off his chair in his bid for affection, whining loudly when Terra closed his eyes and tried to ignore him. Leo wouldn't stand for that, so he sat down alongside him instead and kept repeating his name, banging his tail against the floor until Terra gave him a playful shove to shut him up.

"What's you're excuse then, huh? No one else is in the mood – so what are _you_ so happy about?"

Leo opened his maw and rumbled at the back of his throat before he stood up and walked to stand behind Aqua's chair. He snorted down onto her hair before he rubbed his face against her body, like a cat, humming loudly.

"Look who's popular," Ven laughed with a fake sneer.

"Ahkwahhhh!" Leo rumbled, practically purring as she scratched him under his chin.

"I think he's growing some new feathers," she said, running her fingers along a new and scruffy growth that was protruding from the bottom of his jaw and along the undersides of his cheekbones. It reminded her a bit of stubble on an adolescents jaw.

There was a bang as Mel's arm slid and her head hit the table, and they hastened to check she was all right. She waved them away, wide eyed and startled from the experience, insisting, "I was just resting my eyes."

"Yeah, whatever." Ven said in a business like tone. "You're going to bed,"

"I didn't fall asleep, my arm just slipped. I was just thinking," she insisted yet again as Ven dragged her away by the hand with little to no fight at all, especially when she started a hacking cough.

"Thinking about what?" Ven humoured her.

As they disappeared they heard her saying, "Deep and significant thoughts."

Leo yawned widely and made a show of stretching his limbs before he trundled off after them with his lopsided gait, hobbling on his injured leg. Aqua smiled after them, and then turned to speak to Terra, now that they didn't have an audience. But Terra was already on his feet, his back turned to her as he considered the washing up. He was balanced awkwardly on one leg, holding the other at an angle that put as little weight on his ankle as possible.

"Terra," Aqua began, getting up from her seat, but he spoke over her.

"It's okay, I got it." He didn't look at her.

"Huh?"

"I'll do the washing up. You'd better go to bed, you look ill."

Aqua raised an eyebrow. After a nice hot shower and a cup of tea, she had felt absolutely fine – she didn't feel in the least bit sick. "I feel fine, Terra. I just wanted to talk to you,"

"I really think you should go to bed." He cut her off, dumping the pot in the sink and scrabbling around for a sponge.

Aqua put her hands on her hips and glowered at him. "What are you being so evasive for?"

"I'm not!" he finally turned round to meet her gaze, if only briefly. "I just think you need to go to bed."

He was trying to get rid of her.

"Look, Terra. I'll go if you think I'm not well," she said carefully, watching him move on his foot lightly with concern. "I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."

Terra stared off into the distance, avoiding looking at her. He didn't say anything as she came to stand next to him.

"Terra, about earlier-"

He spun round awkwardly on his uninjured leg and took her by the wrists, avoiding her hands, and stared earnestly into her face, startling her into silence. "Look, Aqua. I know things have been a bit weird between us lately, and…well, I've always liked you, and that day…when we were all together again, I didn't want to say anything then – and then we came back here and there was so much to do, and then we were looking after Mel and Leo – you've got way too much responsibility to carry without me adding to it, so if you don't feel the same way about me I understand-"

Aqua could only blink and look up at him in amazement.

"I don't want to be another thing for you to worry about-"

"Terra," she said weakly, her heart pounding with so much affection for him.

"-Just forget it – I was so glad to have you and Ven back, I don't want to ruin everything by forcing feelings on you that you don't want – just- just forget it,"

"Terra," she said, trying to shake some sense into him and get a word in edgeways around his fast paced speech. "Just shut up!" she cried desperately, unable to stand the hurt he was trying to hide in his eyes. "For five seconds?"

Terra gulped and looked away from her, turning his body away, clearly afraid he had upset and-or angered her, and most probably trying not to feel rejected.

"Terra," she said again, more softly now, reaching up to cup his face with her hand. He turned to her reluctantly, and on impulse she leaned over so they were very close together, and she saw the surprise in his eyes just before she bridged the gap between them, pressing her lips against his. He stilled completely, and she wondered whether his mind had gone as blissfully blank as her own. She pulled back slightly and smiled at his stunned expression. "I love you Terra. I've just been so wrapped up in trying to be a good teacher and master that I didn't realise it until today, and I'm sorry."

He had been so full of words before, and now he was completely speechless – it was infuriatingly endearing. Terra's lips moved, but no sound came, and he hesitated before leaning down to her, his expression sliding to one of wonderment. His kiss was like the soft caress of a moth's wings – hesitant, as if he didn't quite believe she accepted him.

Aqua had never been exactly romantic, and part of her had been worried about it, but she found herself reacting to him as easily and naturally as breathing. His hands slid to her back, and her arms found their way around his neck, wanting the keep him close so he couldn't run away from her, or disappear into the shadows again. She had no idea how long they stood there, wrapped up in each other's embrace, just purely and simply _together_.

The door crashed open without warning and Ven strolled in, stopping dead in his tracks when he took in the sight of them. Aqua felt her cheeks burn, and bit her lip, chancing a glance at Terra whose face rivalled that of a tomato. Mel was hovering at Ven's elbow, a tissue held halfway to her nose, looking almost as embarrassed as Aqua felt.

"Um…" she said, biting her lip. "We'll just," she spun round and tried to retreat, but walked straight into Leo who had ambled up behind them, and Ven grabbed her arm to stop her was withdrawing. She gave him a pleading look, but Ven was watching Terra closely, an evil little smirk on his face.

Aqua inwardly groaned. There would be no _end_ to the teasing he would be dishing out on them. Terra scowled at him, face smarting, and he asked aggressively, "What do you want?"

"Nothing!" Ven said in a parody of innocence. "Just looking for some cough drops," he walked into the kitchen, and Mel reluctantly followed, dragged by the scruff of her neck by Leo. "So, err…what're _you_ guys up to?"

Aqua hid her face in her hands, turning away from them all. She wanted the ground to swallow her – it seemed Mel wanted that too, she didn't look at all comfortable standing there while Terra stared Ven down like prey.

"None of your business," he spat.

"Oh, I see." Ven still had that little smirk on his face. He went to root around in a box they kept basic medicines in while everyone else stood in tense silence.

All except for Leo, who was looking from one unhappy face to the next with puzzlement.

Ven started singing under his breath, watching Terra from the corner of his eyes for a reaction. "Aqua and Terra, sittin' in a tree…"

Mel drove the heels of her hands into her temples with despair, and Terra growled to himself.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G…" Ven continued, taking his eyes back to the box he was rummaging through. "First comes _lurve…_!" he leered at them wickedly.

Terra suddenly brightened, with a little smirk of his own, and he strode over to where Ven stood, shoulders back and head held high. This could only end badly…

"Second comes marriage," he chanted, before flinging his arms around Ven. "Then comes Ventus in the baby carriage!"

"LET GO OF ME!"

"_Never_!" he grabbed Ven in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles furiously into his scalp.

Aqua closed her eyes and rubbed them tiredly. Maybe Terra had been right, and she needed an early night… Mel sidled over to her and put her arms around her middle, looking apologetic and quite ill.

"I'm really sorry…" she said in a small voice.

Aqua sighed and put her arms around Mel, hugging her tightly. "It's all right. It's not your fault…" she was going to kill those two, if they didn't finish each other off first.

"But…you're happy, right?" Mel ventured softly.

Aqua closed her eyes, leaning her cheek on the crown of Mel's head, and she smiled. "I was. Until they started their own little romantic get together,"

The boys were on the floor, wrestling with each other and swearing divine retribution in between cursing each other. Leo was watching wide eyed, as though considering joining in – he probably thought it looked like fun, though Terra and Ven were acting like it was life or death.

"You know?" she said to Mel, rocking gently from side to side, the way her own mother used to when she was very little. "I'm so glad I have another girl in this place to talk to. Please don't ever leave us,"

Mel giggled. "I knew I had a greater purpose to serve in this world and this life time. It must be to keep your sanity,"

They left the kitchen after obtaining the cough drops, leaving Terra and Ven to settle their differences through the medium of their fists. Aqua decided that whatever mess they created, she'd have them fix it in the morning. Before she finally crawled into bed, she looked up at the sky through her window, tracing the pattern on one of the glass candleholders on the sill. He was an idiot; he was still impulsive despite how much he had matured over the years, he still couldn't stand Ven getting one over him, and deep down he was just as unsure and timid as she was. But on the flip side he was kind, loyal to his friends, and sincere with his words and actions.

It was with a smile that Aqua lay down to sleep, relishing in the memory of holding Terra, even if it had been briefly, and feeling the depth of both his feelings and her own.

XOXOX

"FREEDOM!" Sora yelled, running up the steps and flinging his arms around Aqua, hugging her tightly while bouncing on the spot. "FREEDOM!" he shouted again, running through the doors with his arms outstretched as though he were trying to do an impression of a Gummi ship.

Terra had hoped to find some decorum in Riku, but he did a back flip in celebration and ran after Sora, whooping loudly and doing a flawless cartwheel while he exclaimed, "Exams are over!"

"_FREEDOM!_" Sora shrieked, doing a summersault. "FINALLY!"

"I heard there was some freedom," Ven grinned, bouncing down the stairs of the entrance hall. "Hey guys!"

Sora hugged him round the middle laughing like a maniac. "No more math tests! YES!"

Kairi trailed up the steps behind them, looking worn out.

"You okay?" Terra asked as Leo shot over to say hello, looking absolutely delighted to see them in such high spirits.

"Yeah." She smiled despite her worn out appearance. "They've been like this all day. And yesterday."

"We'll see what we can do," Terra said with a smile, patting her on the back as they went inside.

Aqua was already shouting to make herself heard over the noise; Ven and Riku were doing a victory dance while Sora danced an upbeat waltz with Mel, chanting some silly little song about no more homework and no more studying. Terra chuckled, enjoying the moment at Aqua's expense before cupping his hands to his mouth and shouting, "SHUT UP!" at the top of his lungs.

They had a schedule to stick to that day, and they had to get going. Aqua wanted to visit two worlds in particular, to further their education and training, and to cast a wider net on the heartless situation. There were still more than usual running around, but the increase seemed to have died down for now – it was still a cause for concern, though. First off, they were going to Radiant Garden to drop Leo off and pick up Lea; they couldn't take the chick with them where they were going, and Ven had suggested letting Ansem take care of him. Terra thought of all the gadgets to use and all data Ansem must be dying to get his hands on, and he chuckled to himself.

"All right, do you have everything? Ven? Mel?" Aqua called over the chatter that broke out.

Ven and Mel lifted their bags from the ground and slung them over their shoulders in answer.

"Terra?"

"Yup," he heaved his own satchel off the ground and tossed the strap over his arm.

"And you three?" Aqua was looking around for her own bag, which Leo dutifully handed to her in his mouth. "Okay, good. Let's go!"

"Woo!" Ven raced Sora down the stairs into the courtyard. "I haven't been on the _Excalibur _yet!"

"That's _Highwind_!" Riku shouted at them as they ran to the ship.

"They still haven't settled on a name." Kairi sighed as she and Mel followed at a more sedate pace with Leo looming over their shoulders.

"Maybe they should flip a coin?" she suggested.

Kairi gave her a despairing look and massaged her temples. "They can't pick who's heads and who's tails…"

Terra laughed as he followed them, Aqua hurrying to his side after a last double check. She was still running around like a headless chicken, still trying to fill their Master's shoes and keep everyone together and in line. The only difference now was that she held his hand when the walked together, and tried to steal kisses when Ven wasn't looking. He seemed happy enough for them, but he hadn't let up with the teasing, and Terra was finding more excuses than usual to beat him up.

Inside the ship, Ven forgot to point and laugh at them because he was so entranced by all the gadgets and flashing lights in the cockpit.

"Whoa!"

"Take a look at this!" Sora showed him the controls on the main console while Riku went around flicking switches before sitting down in the chair next to Sora's. "Ready Riku?"

"If everyone else is," he said, looking over his shoulder. "Buckle up, Sora's in charge navigation today…"

They all squeezed into the small space, Leo having to remain mostly in the hold with his head and neck stuck through the doorway and up the stairs to the cockpit, grumbling at the injustice of being left behind. Kairi gave up her own seat at the front to let Ven watch firsthand how the ship was flown. Mel looked mildly intrigued, but her loyalties lay with Leo so she and Kairi kept him company while Aqua and Terra discussed their plans for the day. Both worlds they were hoping to visit were ones Sora had visited before with Donald and Goofy. Sadly, they couldn't make it today, so it would just be 'The Keybladers' as Sora had unofficially christened them.

In Radiant Garden they found Ansem and Lea waiting for them at the Postern, and they traded their dragon for Lea's custody. He looked a bit animated by the prospects of the day, but he spent his time winding Ven and Sora up while Aqua talked to Ansem.

"We should be back later this evening. We don't think there should be any problems, but don't let him over work his leg. He's still a bit stiff on it."

Leo was happy to see the lovely man who had nursed him back to health, and he was trying to lick his face with enthusiasm.

"Try not to experiment on him now!" Lea said brightly, waving at the dragon who tried to imitate the motion but couldn't balance on his hind legs and promptly fell over.

"Of course not," Ansem said, eyes bright with humour. "I'm sure he'll be just fine."

Leo kept nipping at their shirts and getting his teeth into Terra's shoulder guard as they tried to leave, but he didn't put up too much of a fight. He clearly wanted to stay and have fun with his new friend, and he knew that they would come back for him, but he still didn't want them to go. His big golden eyes seemed to say swimmingly, "Can't we all stay and play together?" but they managed to prise themselves from him and get back on the gummi ship to leave.

A fight broke out when Lea wanted to sit in the prime seat and Ven refused to give it up. In the end he sat with a thunderous expression on his face while Lea sat quite comfortably on his lap, talking loudly over him whenever Ven tried to speak while Sora and Riku tried not to laugh.

"Maybe its karma," Mel said serenely as Kairi questioned why Lea was picking on him so.

They drew right up to the first world they were to visit, and before they landed Aqua stood up to give them a pep talk. She called for order and everyone turned to listen from where they were perched around the cockpit.

"Okay everyone! I know Sora's been here before, but the rest of us haven't, so we need to follow Sora's lead. We'll have a different form when we disembark, and there are some things we won't be able to do in this world, but our new forms will allow us to do new and different things instead. Remember, this isn't a test – it's a lesson in adapting to your environment."

"And a heartless hunt!" Lea crowed.

"Yes," Aqua said dismissively. "But if we could stay together as a group so we don't lose anyone, that would be great. So don't wonder off by yourself, all right?"

There was a murmur of ascent and Sora raced everyone to the doors with a whoop. "Follow me, guys!"

The world was a lush green plane covered in grass and the odd tree, with a huge towering stone structure in the distance. They landed in a small grove of trees surrounding a bubbling stream that collected in a rocky bed to form a pool that reflected the beautiful azure sky above. Terra had been warned about where they were going, but it was still a shock to see the others on all fours, covered in fur and sporting long tufted tails.

"Welcome to the Pride Lands!" Sora bounced, a thick mane of fur the same colour as his hair flying in all directions. The rest of his body was a slightly darker shade; the body of an adolescent lion.

"Whoa," Riku was looking down at his paws, lifting them up to his nose for inspection. "This feels _weird_." His mane wasn't as thick and unruly as Sora's, but it was just as impressive, and his fur was the same off white, almost silver-purple of his normal hair. His build was bigger and slightly more muscular, with a lighter shade on his body, making Sora look somewhat skinny and half-grown.

"Uh, Sora?" Kairi asked awkwardly, standing stock still with her tail swishing agitatedly. "How do you _walk_?" rather than a mane, she had a sweep of hair rather like her own, that laid down flat against her skull and fell into her eyes – more like a normal hairstyle on a human than a lion's mane. She was the same deep red as her hair, the rest of her body a coppery auburn, and appreciably smaller than the boys with much more slender legs.

"Like this!" he took an exaggerated step towards her, placing each foot down on the dusty ground carefully. "See? One step at a time…"

Ven bounced and took a few steps before tripping and landing in a heap at Terra's feet. "This is _bizarre_!"

"No, that's probably just you," he teased, testing his own gait and feeling the strange distribution of weight on what used to be his hands.

Ven's mane was an impressive array of sweeping, golden spikes that mimicked his usual hair; he was completely golden all the way over, and roughly the same shape and size as Sora. Behind him, Lea was testing his own legs out, standing out amongst the brush like a bright red beacon; his already mane like hair was present, and stretched down most of his back, which was incredibly slender given his height. He looked physically more like a cheetah, though his colouration betrayed him.

By the time Terra had gotten used to his new posture and gait the others had just about too – Mel and Kairi were still trying to walk fast enough to keep up with Riku and Sora, who had started fighting playfully like a pair of kittens, snarling and biting at each other in a harmless display of high spirits. Mel's fur was a rich gold, darker than Ven's, and she still had those two little ringlets that hung down either side of her face. Predictably, she was the smallest of the group, but there seemed to be a tinge of robust energy as she managed to hold her ground while Sora and Riku gambled around her, keeping her footing on the small rocks and pebbles under foot even though the boys crashed into her.

Aqua managed to find her bearings quickly, and lost no time; bustling around helping the others find theirs. Her body was blue, like her hair; a lighter shade than the sky above, standing out almost was much as Lea. She padded past Terra on sure feet, rubbing her new muzzle against his like a cat, and purring loudly. He pushed against her, purring in response to the contact.

As she sauntered off to survey their position, he looked at his reflection in the water. A dark, earthy coloured male lion looked back at him with deep blue eyes; his mane mimicked his own hair, falling in exactly the same shape and sticking up at the same angle. He wasn't as tall and long limbed as Lea, but he had a stockier, sturdier build and he thought he looked quite powerfully built compared to Riku and Sora.

"Everyone all right?" Aqua called, jumping from the rock back onto the ground and rounding them all up. "Okay. There don't seem to be any heartless here at the moment, so lets take it easy for now and just practise moving around."

"We _can_ walk, ya know." Lea sniffed. He barked with surprise as Sora pounced on him, failing to fend him off.

"We need to get used to moving on all fours." Aqua pointed out unnecessarily. "Let's try pairing up for some light sparring. Just _tap_ your opponent, not tear their fur out. _You_," she said to Ven, head butting him towards Kairi. "Are banned from sparring with Terra."

Aqua paired Lea and Riku, Sora and Terra, and then herself with Mel; they spent half an hour getting a feel for their new forms while playing tag sparring, and having a great deal of fun. Next Sora showed them how to fight while holding a keyblade in your mouth, and they changed partners for the new exercise.

After clumsily hitting Aqua upside the jaw for the fifth time Terra paused to take a look around at the others to see how they were fairing. Mel and Ven were weaving from side to side, mirroring each other's movements in confusion with the same puzzled expression; slowly succumbing to the desire to laugh as they didn't manage to land a single hit each. Kairi kept tripping over her feet with her nose in the air while she tried to keep her vision clear – Riku didn't have much more success, though he got the hang of actually landing strikes while trying to keep them as light as possible on her. Lea was getting a sound thrashing from Sora, who was bouncing in and out of the others laughing and trying to cheer them on.

"Look, its easy!" he insisted, showing Riku how to angle his head to deal a heavier blow. "You've gotta stay on your toes, like this,"

Eventually they stopped to take a break and lapped at the water from the stream before they settled down in the shade of the trees. Despite being winter, it was still incredibly hot in this world, and Aqua didn't want anyone dropping from heat exhaustion. It was a very pleasant rest; Lea snoozed by himself apart from the others, while Riku and Sora chatted animatedly about Christmas with Ven, plotting parties and talking about various presents. Sora kept teasing Riku about Santa, and was met with several physical rebuffs before it exploded into a full-fledged fight that didn't last long in the heat of midday. Kairi and Mel exchanged artistic endeavours and discussed different tips on using ink dyes and fabric paints, ignoring the boys as they romped together in the shade of an overgrown bush, snarling and growling at each other for dramatic effect.

Terra had settled down to a snooze as well, but Aqua chose to sit down and use his back as a pillow, her chest vibrating as she purred. He purred in response and opened his eyes lazily. The tuft of her tail was twitching from side to side just in front of his nose, and he playfully slammed his paw down onto it. Aqua growled, whisking it out of the way and giving him a warning thump. Undeterred, Terra chased after her tail, and she leapt to her feet, striking out with her claws and snarling. He ended up on his back with her teeth worryingly close to his throat, but she laughed as she growled at him. They rolled over on the dusty ground, scraping with each other until the heat of the day became too much for them, and they collapsed together in a heap a little way away from the main group.

"You're such a pain," Aqua said conversationally as Terra settled his head on top of her neck.

"You put up with it," he countered, grinning.

Terra was relieved that things between them hadn't really changed much, they had simply…deepened. After Ven had been punished for his teasing, things went back to the way they had been before, with the added benefit of cuddles as opposed to hugs. They still bickered and fought, wound each other up and lovingly abused each other verbally as they always had. Only now Terra had a new tactic that almost always won him an argument; when he knew he was losing, he swept her into his arms and kissed her, to great effect. Aqua was still a bit slow on the romantic front, and it never failed to make her blush and stumble over her words when she wasn't expecting him to. Not that he needed an argument as an excuse to kiss her…it was quite fun catching her off guard, though she was wising up to his antics. But more than anything, it was the deeper understanding between them, and their feelings, which was the best thing of all.

For the beginning of the afternoon they practised running and fighting at high speeds, cutting a route through the long grasses and startling a herd of gazelle as they went. It was going quite well, and Terra stopped to look at Mel who had climbed onto a large and craggy outcrop of rock to see over the horizon. He turned back to watch Ven and Riku tackle Lea to the ground, keyblade in mouth, when a terrible snarl broke out and Mel shrieked with surprise. She scrambled back down to the ground and streaked to Terra's side, and he stepped in front of her to shield her from whatever was chasing her.

A shabby looking lioness was stood where Mel had been moment ago, teeth bared in a grim snarl and malevolence keen in her yellow eyes. She stalked towards Terra, poised to attack, and he growled back, attracting the other's attention.

"Who are you?" the lioness demanded in a low hiss.

Ven roared, and was instantly backed up by Lea and Kairi. Sora trundled to the front and tried to resolve things more diplomatically.

"Hiya! Sorry we disturbed you, we were just passing through," he seemed to think the lioness would listen to him.

"_You_ don't look like Pridelanders." She said, coming to a halt several paces away. Close to she looked quite mangy and moth eaten, as though her diet and living arrangements were poor. "Who are you?" she asked again. "Where have you come from?"

Aqua padded forth and looked the lioness straight in the eye, which seemed to aggravate her. "I'm very sorry, I didn't realise we were trespassing here. My name is Aqua, what's yours?" she tried to sound polite, to little affect.

"Zira," she said, eyeing them up one by one. "Yes…_you_ don't look like Pridelanders to me,"

"We're not from around here," Sora piped up. "We're just visiting. We have friends here,"

"Oh? Is that so?" Zira simpered. She inspected the underside of her paw, giving them a piercing look from under her eyebrows. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about _Simba_, would you?"

"Yeah, that's right!" Sora said happily. "You know him?"

"Oh, I _do_." She smiled, quite unpleasantly, and Sora blanched. "You can give that _king_ my deepest regards. Now get out of our land," she bared her teeth and advanced on them.

Sora took a step back, but Aqua held her ground as Ven pounced to her side, hackles raised and teeth bared in a mirror image of the lioness. Terra lowered his head and snarled a warning, and Zira seemed to think better of it after their display. She snorted derisively and turned her back on them.

"I wouldn't hang around here, if I were you." She said carelessly. "This is the boarder of the Outlands. _Our_ territory. Run along to your precious king before my pride find you." And with that she gracefully loped up the rocky crag and disappeared from sight over the top.

After a tense silence, Aqua said, "Maybe we should get going," and they followed without comment or complaint. "Hey Sora, do you know where to find Simba?" she asked as they backtracked towards the stream.

"Yeah, just keeping heading for that big rock over there," he nodded at the structure that dominated the horizon ahead of them.

"Do you think he would mind us visiting?"

"Not at all! I haven't seen him in a while, it'd be good to visit him!"

With that said, they fell into formation and ran at a steady pace across the planes, startling animals and birds as they went. Terra relished in the exertion and effort, and the sheer speed – it was almost like flying. Amazingly, once Mel found her pace she kept up incredibly well despite her shorter legs. They arrived at the mammoth formation of rock to find another lioness, much more well groomed than Zira, who challenged their presence there. Sora gave his name and asked to speak to Simba, and she considered them closely before she disappeared to relay the message. She returned with two more lions, another lioness, and a huge male with sandy fur and a thick red mane who was delighted to see Sora.

They were all introduced, and Simba invited them right inside Priderock as honoured guests. Terra was amazed by the stone monolith and kept craning his neck to see the top. Sora was greeted by the other lions with affection and joy, and everyone wanted to know what he'd been doing lately, and how Donald and Goofy were doing. They were also equally fascinated by the others – Aqua in particular was a novelty with her sky blue fur, and so was Lea with his bright red coat and lanky build. Simba's mate Nala introduced them to Kiara, their daughter, and she was excited to meet Sora, who she had heard about from her father and her two nannies of sorts – Timone and Pumba, who seemed to tail her wherever she went, much to her annoyance.

Terra was surprised to find a warthog and a meerkat living so comfortably in a lion's den, but they were treated with respect and tolerance and shared a similarly abusive relationship with Simba, as did Terra and Ven.

All too soon they had to leave, and Kiara followed them to the base of Priderock. She was bubbly and bouncy like Sora, but Terra had a feeling Simba was very protective of her and didn't like having her out of his sight. A bit like Aqua, in that case.

"You'll come back soon?" Kiara asked, rubbing her face against Kairi's in farewell. "It'd be great if you did! I'm going to start hunting soon, it'd be wonderful to have someone to practise with,"

"What about the rest of your pride?" Sora asked.

"Well…" she looked defeated. "My father gets them all to baby-sit me. It's really annoying…"

"He cares about you, and he doesn't want you to get hurt," Aqua said evenly, smiling at Ven, who was wrestling with Riku. "I know the feeling."

"Yeah, but he never gives me the _chance_ to prove I can do it by myself," Kiara said, frustrated. "Everywhere I go, it's the same thing. No one sees me as _just me_. I'm always," she sat back on her hind legs and imitated a grand and royal air, paw raised in salutation. "Princess Kiara!"

"Is that a bad thing?" Sora said innocently.

Kiara sighed and looked at the ground. "Its just…there's more to me, than being the king's daughter."

Riku padded over and sat down beside her, looking grave and sincere. "One day, you'll meet someone who does see you for who you are, and not what you were born as."

She gave him a wishful smile. "I had fun today, with you guys…I feel almost normal."

"Too bad we can't stay," Sora wilted at the thought, but then perked up. "But we'll definitely come back to visit!"

"Kiara!" someone called from above on the rock.

Kiara rolled her eyes and exhaled with a huff. "Coming! I'll see you guys later," she loped back up to the main outcrop and paused long enough to look over her shoulder and shout, "Goodbye!"

"See ya!" Ven called back, standing back on his hind legs and waving his forepaw.

It felt weird back on the gummi ship – Terra tripped over his feet, with his weight suddenly shifted back straight down his spine. The others had difficulty adjusting – all except for Sora who bounced around with his usual vigour and grinning at them all. He really enjoyed the one-upmanship over Riku.

"Where to next, oh leader?" Lea drawled, collapsing into the passenger seat before anyone else could. Ven tried to sit on him and pay back the treatment he had been dealt, but he ended up sprawled on the floor for his troubles.

"Ready, Sora?" Aqua asked, ignoring Lea's cocksure smile.

"Full speed ahead!" he shouted, laughing as Riku hit the accelerator.

If running around on all fours with a long tufty tail wasn't weird enough, the next world they visited was even harder to adjust to. They landed in the sea, in a small garden comprised of coral, some of them gasping for air as their lungs filled with water. They could breathe, and talk – which as bizarre in itself. What was even more peculiar was the sudden _lack_ of legs all together – Terra twisted around in the soft currents trying to get a look at his lower body; it had formed into a sleek, dark grey tail with a fluked end and a long, powerful looking dorsal fin. Sora swam past, hands behind his head and swimming at his leisure, grinning as usual. His tail was like Terra's, though more rounded at the points and the dorsal fin wasn't as prominent, and it was a blue to match his eyes. Sora wasn't wearing a shirt, and Terra noticed neither was he, it seemed to have vanished.

"Hey Terra!" Sora beamed at him.

"How do you _do_ that?" he demanded humorously, flexing his new tail and slowly spinning upside down uncontrollably. He turned to look for the others, and found them in similar states of disarray; Sora didn't look where he was going and collided with Ven, who went spinning off through the water with a cry of surprise. Ven's tail was black and white, patterned like an orca's; his dorsal fin was longer and much narrower, with a grey saddle patch behind it. He was also in a similar state of undress.

"My day just keeps getting weirder and weirder…" Lea muttered to himself, hanging upside down in the currents and slowly revolving clockwise, inspecting the vivid red tail below his waist, two partially see through white and red striped fans sprouting from the end like the fins of a lionfish. He looked wide-eyed and uncertain of how to take the situation.

"Speak for yourself," Riku muttered, patting himself down. His tail was like Sora's, but black with a very dark purple stripe that swirled down either side to meet in a spiral on tail fluke. "How do you move _this_ time?"

"It's all in the hips!" Sora said happily, demonstrating for them with exaggerated movements; they started at the solar plexus, and the whole body had to flex to move to generate enough power to swim forward against the currents.

Kairi and Mel got the hang of it faster than the others, and though Mel twisted and turned easily in the water as if she had done it before, when asked she turned a blank stare on them and said, "I have no idea what I'm doing." Her tail was that of a sleek, light grey dolphin flecked with darker grey and green, with a copper streak down the middle below her dorsal fin, which was much smaller than the others.

Kairi on the other hand had a fan like fin that was a soft pinkie sort of colour that deepened to sunset red at her waist. Both girls had kept their tops, but they were altered somehow…Mel merely wore her purple tank top and Kairi had her dress though it was cut off at her hips. Similarly, Aqua's grey top was in place, but she didn't have her long white sleeves; her tail was the same blue as her hair, with a small pair of teardrop shaped fins at the end.

After a slow session of getting used to the environment, they started practising fighting. Some of the coral got destroyed after Sora and Riku started arguing, but all in all they managed to deal as little damage as possible to their surroundings and to each other. They found a few heartless, which were quickly dispatched thanks mostly and purposefully to Sora, and unintentionally thanks to Ven who went spinning out of control through a particularly strong current and crashed into the large jellyfish like creatures, his keyblade dancing through the water with a mind of its own. Aqua seemed concerned by the presence of the heartless, but Sora insisted it was nothing like what it had once been.

"Whew!" Ven said, wiping his brow even though there was no sweat upon it and flopped onto a tall pinnacle of rock, clinging to it to keep from drifting away. "I'm beat…"

"Okay, we'll take a break," Aqua called over the noise of Riku and Lea bickering about the fight with the heartless.

Mel floated past, experimenting with a particular twist of her tail and diving gracefully downwards. She seemed to be enjoying this world; she looked completely at home with the mode of travel, as natural as walking on two legs. Terra wished he could swim like that, and he watched her wistfully as she danced circles around Lea, who tried to catch her by the tail and missed every time. She was just as evasive and quick as she was in her normal form.

Aqua swam up and took Terra's arm; he smiled down at her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "We should do this more often."

"What, group exertions?" she turned to look at Riku and Mel, playing a game of tag around Lea. It made her tired just watching them, let alone keeping them all in one place together.

"This," he grabbed her by the waist and pressed his lips against hers. She didn't resist, and he could feel her fingers intertwine in his hair as he slid his hands down her back. It was a wonderful, short lived moment; they pulled apart just enough to look into each other's eyes – the soppy sort of romantic thing you only read about in books, and Terra had once sworn to Master Eraqus as a boy he'd _never_ do – before leaning in again.

And then it ended.

"Argh! Terra's trying to have sex with Aqua!"

Terra snarled and turned on Ven with a vengeance. As he wrestled him to the seabed, everyone turned to watch in various states of amusement and alarm. "Shut the hell up!" he snarled, shaking Ven as hard as he could. He could deal with the teasing at home, in private, where he was surrounded by his closest friends. That, he could deal with. Having Ven shout about it in public – pointing it out and overly exaggerating what had happened… Terra's face felt as red as Lea's tail. And speaking of tails, he saw fit to grab Ven by the fluke of his and started spinning around in tight circles while the younger man yelped and struggled uselessly. After he had gathered enough momentum, Terra let go and Ven went sailing over the horizon, propelled through the water against the currents, yelling in surprise.

"So long!" Terra shouted after him, folding his arms and smirking after him.

"Farewell!" Riku laughed, waving after him.

Sora did a little twirl, ending with a dramatic pose as he sang, "Auf Wiedersehen – _good night_!" They stared at him in silence, and he laughed to himself. "Heh. _I _thought it was funny…"

Terra yelped as something collided hard with the back of his head. He turned to see a very angry Aqua bearing down on him, and he inwardly groaned. "What the hell was that?!" she demanded, in full mother mode.

Lea floated by on his back, eyes closed and humming to himself. "So long, and thanks for all the fish…" he grinned wickedly at Terra while Aqua gave him a stern talking to about throwing Ven over the horizon.

They eventually found him, swimming to and fro in a daze, still dizzy from all the spinning, and not really with it. Aqua fussed over him, fearing a concussion or worse and glowering at Terra for having sent him flying in the first place. But Ven wobbled over to Terra with a weak smile, and he clung to his arm to stop himself from being swept away and said, "Nah, it wasn't that. I had to fight this heartless, but I was really dizzy, and I hit myself with my keyblade…and my head hurts."

By the time they had finished up, left for Radiant garden and picked up Leo - saying goodbye to the others as they were going to make their own way home – Aqua had lost most of her anger, but she still refused to speak to Terra. She fussed over Leo, who fussed over them all, and reluctantly took leave of Ansem after a final farewell; she also continued to fuss over Ven, who seemed perfectly fine and was still on speaking terms with Terra. The two of them bounced along happily up the stairs from the courtyard and back indoors, chatting amiably about the day and laughing about what Terra had done to him.

"Did you see how far I flew!" Ven enthused. "It was fun! Can we do it again?"

"No!" Aqua all but shouted at them both, shaking with suppressed rage. "No, no, _no_. No more throwing each other anywhere! You could have been seriously hurt this time, Ven!"

"Aw, c'mon Aqua!" Terra pleaded. "He didn't hit his head _that_ hard!"

"Yeah! I just didn't have the hang of swimming," Ven insisted, wide-eyed and innocent. "And then I hit myself with my keyblade…"

Aqua glowered from one to the other before she stalked off, shoulders hunched and muttering darkly to herself. Mel scampered after her, giving the boys an apologetic look, leaving them alone with Leo, who looked highly amused at the proceedings.

"It wasn't that bad!" Ven whined. "It didn't even hurt that much! Swimming that fast was _fun_!"

"Yeah," Terra eyed him narrowly, and Ven tried to bolt. He grabbed him before he got too far and held him in a headlock. "And the next time you say something stupid like that in front of an audience I'm going to fling you to the _moon_ – ya got that Ventus?"

"Lemme go! Lemme go! You know I didn't mean it! You were just making out! It's not the same thing! LET ME GO!"

"Not until you apologise," Terra grunted, slowly descending to his knees to trap Ven against the floor and lessen the amount of available space he had to flail around in.

"No way!" he protested, struggling against Terra's grip.

"Trust me, we've got _all the time in the world_!" Terra grinned, pressing him into the floor.

"AQUA!" Ven screamed, floundering under Terra's weight. His pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

XOXOX

"C'mon, hurry up!" Ven shouted, racing around and triple checking their various bags of presents. He was impatient to get moving, and it made Aqua laugh.

Memories of his first Christmas with them came flooding back; he'd tailed Master Eraqus everywhere, pestering him with questions and delighting in the novelty of putting up decorations and eating special types of cake. As long as it was smothered in molten chocolate and plenty of cream, it didn't matter how fruity or nutty it was.

They were dressed warmly against the snow that was just starting to fall outside, and Leo finally had his special hand knitted coat Mel had made; it was a patchwork of different colours, patterns and stitches, in every shape and size, and it covered the majority of his body from the base of his neck down to the beginning of his tail. He was very pleased with it, but he kept getting it snagged on various objects as he moved around.

The plan was to spend Christmas Eve day with King Mickey at Disney Castle – Christmas Day proper alone together at home, and then Boxing Day in Radiant Garden. Sora had invited them over for New Year's, and they were all coming to visit with them today. But first, they had to drop off some presents to their friends in other worlds before they went to the Castle. They had a plan, and Aqua had directed Terra to go with Mel, while she took Ven, so as to minimise the distractions of fighting each other and to keep an eye on Ven.

At around Midday they had finished delivering, and they met up again at the Castle; Donald greeted them at the gates and led them to the audience chamber where they encountered Sora, Riku and Kairi. After a warm welcome they all retired to a beautifully decorated room full of musical instruments, with a lovely little Christmas tree in the corner and walls festooned with holly and mistletoe. They lunched on finger sandwiches and other light, posh snacks before they all settled in to chat. It was the perfect, laid back, comfortable afternoon without the worry of where her friends were and what the heartless were up to.

Sora, Donald and Goofy provided entertainment by re-enacting some of their more comical past adventures; Riku plucked a guitar from the wall and started running through some mindless scales before he started providing the drama with music, and they fell about laughing at the sheer silliness of it all.

Riku laughed and handed the guitar to Mel, and she set about playing a lilting, happy little tune while he turned to Sora and said, "Have you looked at that paper Mr Higgs gave us yet?"

Sora instantly shrivelled up and collapsed to his knees. "No!" he whined, a perfect impression of Ven trying to wheedle his way out of something. "I don't want to! I _hate_ math!"

"But you'll have to sit the test _some_ time," Kairi said, wagging a finger at him. "Flying around playing the hero isn't an excuse to not do your homework!"

"It's a math test!" Lea said bracingly, lounging in an armchair at his ease, arms pillowing his head. "It's not like you're die or anything,"

"What if I did?" Sora said, wide eyed, jumping to his feet. "What if I was doing the test and a vortex opened up and sucked me in and you never heard from me again!"

"What a relief that would be," Riku muttered under his breath. Kairi flicked his ear in response, but couldn't hide her smile.

"But what if the heartless came in and tore the school down because they were mad at what happened in the past and wanted to get back at me?" Sora insisted, his suggestions becoming even more outlandish. "What if he died of a heart attack?!"

Mel struck a chord on the guitar and said, "What if the sky turned to fire and your nose fell off?"

They all turned to look at her, but then instantly swung round to Leo, who had yelped and dived to the floor, his paws on his nose and his eyes focused on it before he looked hesitantly up at the ceiling to check for fire.

"She didn't mean it," Aqua said soothingly, stroking his neck. "Mel was making an exaggeration."

"My mum used to say that to me when I got in a tizzy." Mel explained. "I always seemed to work…"

Sora smiled apologetically. "Sorry…I really _do_ hate math, though." He insisted.

A while later Master Yen Sid made an appearance, to great delight, and he handed a small box to Mickey, which turned out to house a harmonica.

"Gosh!" he exclaimed, holding it up to the light. "I'd forgotten where this had gone!"

"Do you play?" Sora asked, watching the shiny object with Ven over his shoulder.

"Oh, just a few simple tunes," he said bashfully. "Nothing much…"

"Why don't you play us a tune, your majesty?" Donald suggested, and then Mickey had to give in and comply just to get Riku and Sora to shut up. It also helped that Minnie smiled sweetly and requested a song, so he let the others bully him into it.

First he cleaned it, and then blew a few notes to give himself a reminder, before he started playing the tune to _Jingle Bells_. Sora clapped and cheered, and Mel snuck over to the grand piano in the corner of the room and waited for the right timing before she began weaving chords around his playing, making it sound jazzy and upbeat. Aqua gave into the itch for music and liberated a violin from one of the shelves and added her own music to the medley.

They all joined in playing and singing various Christmas carols; even Lea was sweet talked into it provided you put up with his alternative and often rude lyrics. As the evening drew in they had to leave, promising to visit soon and continuously wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. Sora and the others departed first, waving happily and wrapped up in scarves, hats and ear warmers; it was snowing heavily outside, even though they were returning home to a warmer climate.

Leo had taken his own coat off because it was quite warm inside, but he crawled back into it before they also left. Mickey gave everyone a hug and escorted them as far as the Castle gates, where he waved them goodbye.

Back at home, they piled up their newly acquired presents underneath their tree and had a last mug of hot chocolate before Aqua chased them up to the dorms. "Good night!" Ven called to them all, grinning like a little kid.

"Merry Christmas!" Mel grinned back.

It was the first time she had actually _grinned_ as opposed to smiled – she looked about five years old, and it was surprisingly endearing.

Before Aqua could make it to her own bed Terra grabbed her by the waist and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Good night,"

"Good night, Terra," she smiled up at him.

As she pulled the covers back and climbed into bed, Aqua looked up at the sky; it was bright and clear, the snow had stopped falling for now, and every single star shone brilliantly in the dark sky. She found the three stars, brighter than their neighbours, shining down on her – the same three she had jokingly told Ven were theirs, that she had watched for the night before she became a master.

Two comets arced across the sky under the moon, briefly outshining the stars around them.

Aqua smiled before rolling over and snuggling into her duvet. Tomorrow was going to a fun, but long day…

XOXOX


	8. Out With The Old, In With The New

**AN: this took a lot longer to write than I thought it would, especially because I came down with the lurgy! It was a real pain to write at times, not gonna lie, but I'm happy with the end result. I'd also like to give MASSIVE shout out to **HeartofFyrwinde **for bouncing ideas around with me and giving me inspiration for a large portion of this chapter :D I struggle with heartbreak/angst, but they kept me on the straight and narrow when it came down to it :) thanks dude you rule!**

_**Out With The Old, In With The New**_

Christmas Day – a time for friends and family; of good food, good drink, and good company. And naturally, good music.

Ven found Mel at Master Eraqus' piano, playful a soft lilting, haunting melody while a small clay bowl on the floor smoked with burning herbs. When asked she said it was a custom from her home town to remember and honour everyone who couldn't be with you today, and for those who had no one for whatever reason. You were supposed to sing a song, but she didn't feel up to it so she had settled for music instead. After that, she and Terra made pancakes for breakfast after Ven had wished everyone a happy Christmas about five times, and followed at Aqua's elbow begging to let the present opening begin. She swatted at him, yawning widely and looking for her hairbrush, which seemed to have gone on walkabout by itself.

Terra looked pointedly at Leo, who gazed back innocently before trundling off to help Ven carry a tray of food to the common room.

"I bet it's him…" he muttered to Aqua.

"It doesn't matter," she said, pulling her dressing gown closer around her body. They never got dressed before lunch on Christmas, but it was particularly chilly this morning all the same.

The pancakes were excellent, and Ven drowned his in chocolate before lamenting loudly that there were no strawberries, not taking the valid reason for it being out of season as a good enough excuse.

"Strawberries and chocolate – two things that should always go together!" he insisted.

"Apple and strawberry's _really_ nice," Mel added, sipping on a cup of herbal she had made for them all. It was something like ginger, and an herb Ven hadn't caught the name of – but it was lovely and warming.

Leo had his nose stuck in a bowl of the stuff, after they had added ice to stop him from burning himself. Ven has twisted some tinsel around his horns for the occasion, and he liked the over all effect it had. Leo understood the concept of Christmas, but he seemed confused as to who exactly he was supposed to be treating with partiality. Ven had tried to explain Christmas was a birthday – for someone else that everyone across the worlds celebrated in one form or another – which had confused him, even more so when Terra bored them all with a lecture about respecting different cultures and religions and their take on the winter festival. As such, Leo kept nosing at Aqua's hand and trying to convey congratulations, as if it were her birthday all over again since hers was the only one he had experienced before.

"Can we do presents _now_?" Ven begged.

"Can we finish eating first?" Terra groaned; he was barely part way through his breakfast.

"You eat too slow! Leo, can't you help him?"

Leo raised his head, cocking it to one side and raising an eyebrow. He seemed to have developed a moral compass that denied him the urge to steal people's food. Or maybe he had eaten too many apples by now, it was hard to tell – he'd never had qualms about stealing people's ice cream in the past. Either way, he refused to get up and worry Terra's plate.

"Patience is a virtue." Aqua said primly.

"Possess it if you can." Mel continued, lifting a sprig of tinsel from the floor and wrapping it around the leg of a table. "Seldom found in women, and never found in man. I always thought that was slightly sexist, personally…"

When Terra finally finished his last mouthful – and made Ven wait until he had finished swallowing – they finally started on Ven's second favourite activity of the day: _presents_. He fished them out from underneath the tree and divided them up according to their labels; there were quite a few more than he was used to, but then again they had a wider circle of friends now.

"Okay," Aqua smiled, shaking her head as he burst with impatience. "You may begin. Just don't make a-"

"Woohoo!" Ven grabbed the first one from his pile and ripped it open.

A while later they were sat in a sea of wrapping paper, surrounded by all manner of shiny new items. Ven had given them all more of the bath bombs and soaps he and Sora had given Aqua – the shop was in Radiant Garden and he had stocked up as much as possible. He'd tried to get things he thought suited each of them, and colour coordinate as much as possible. Aqua was delighted, since her stocks were rather diminished now, and Mel kept lifting them to her nose and inhaling deeply. When Terra laughed and accused her of trying to get high she smiled innocently, stroking the heart shaped cake of soap studded with dried flower petals and said softly, "I _really_ like lavender…"

Mel had made up little medicine pouches for them from velvet, silk, and in Aqua's case animal furs. It was trimmed with otter fur, and the shape of their badges that Master Eraqus had given to them had been stitched into the fabric. Mel explained otter medicine was the medicine of Woman, and high-ranking shaman and mages wore the fur as a symbol of their status. Ven's own pouch was a mixture of black, white and grey patterns with green felt stitched together like leaves interspersed across it; inside were some crystals engineered at keeping him grounded, as opposed to in the air like the itself bag suggested. Terra's was a complex matrix of leather strips that had been plaited and woven together with golden threads weaving their way in and around the main pattern, like tree roots. She had included a few objects besides a large crystal for centering and balancing; four pebbles of different size, colour and composition – apparently from each of the four elements. When Aqua opened hers she found something similar, though hers were completely different – a skeleton leaf preserved in laminated plastic, a beautifully engraved tin whistle, a smooth pebble with a few streaks of lighter colours on its surface that resembled a dolphin, and a small snake made from wire and beads.

"How exactly do you pick them out?" Terra asked curiously, rolling his new crystal around in his hands.

Mel shrugged awkwardly. "I don't I just…put everything into a bag and put my hand in. whatever my hand touched I set aside and I realised I'd made up enough to fill a medicine bag…I've been carrying some of those for a long time, now seemed like the right time to pass them on."

Ven laughed and held a particularly pretty clear quartz up to the light, letting it fracture into a million colours. "Thanks Mel!"

Aqua had given Ven a set of books about Arcane Magicks, which he had been dying to learn about for a while now. He hugged her with a whoop while Terra unwrapped a stack of his own books on ancient history. Trust her to be practical and get them something they actually _needed_, as opposed to something they just desperately wanted. Terra had also given Ven a set of books, but they were storybooks from a series Sora had shown him, and he had really liked the sound of.

Mel received a pair of fingerless gloves from Terra, with special grips on the palms to help her hang on while she was flying. When she got to Aqua's gift, Ven turned to look at her with a grin – he knew what was inside. Mel opened the small box, and found her own wayfinder made from purple glass set in a series of golden panes. At first she was struck speechless, and then she crawled over and flung her arms around Aqua's neck, laughing.

"Oh _thank _you!"

"It took me a while to find the right pieces," she smiled, ruffling Mel's hair into a haystack. "I'm glad you like it!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out yet another one. It was a bit bigger than the others, and made from large, flat stones that were black with traces of purple swirling in their depths, one of which had a distinct golden streak, and surrounded by a frame work of stiff, strong wire that held them together in a star shaped formation. "I made this one for Leo, too. I had to do it differently so it doesn't get damaged easily,"

Terra had devised a collar for him with Ven's help, so they buckled it around Leo's neck and Aqua attached the wayfinder so it hung close to his heart, after holding it up to him so he could get a closer look. He was absolutely delighted with his shiny new toy, but it baffled him as to why it had to be hung somewhere where he couldn't easily see it, and spent a long time trying to crane his neck from side to side to catch a glimpse at his wayfinder. Mel had taken the cord on hers and wrapped it around her wrist like a bracelet, which Leo started pestering so he could get a better look.

Sora, Riku and Kairi had pooled their resources and gotten them each a small thing, as well as a big box of chocolates to share. They were little charms intended for bracelets and keepsakes: Ven attached the golden and bronze leaves to his new medicine bag, as did Terra before he tucked his own wayfinder into it – his was a small and intricately linked tree in copper. Aqua laughed and followed suit, taking the silver raindrop and threading it onto the drawstrings of her pouch. Mel's was a tiny little golden dragon, not quite the same as Leo – scaly and bat winged – but she clipped it to her charm bracelet anyway, holding her wrist up and watching it swing freely.

The Restoration Committee had given them collectively some books, three jars of marmalade and a box of barley tea. Lea had actually made them some cupcakes and put them in a box, with a card from both him, Master Ansem, and another box of chocolates from everyone at Disney Castle.

Leo scuttled off for a moment before returning with a plastic bin bag clamped in his teeth that was rapidly disintegrating. Somehow, he had managed to get hold of Terra and Ven's shoulder guards, and Aqua and Mel's armoured boots without them realising. And he had managed to clean virtually all of the dirt and grime from them – they shone in the firelight, absolutely spotless. His Christmas gift to them. They all gave him a hug and a rub down in thanks; none of them had anticipated or expected anything from him, so it was a pleasant surprise. Leo at first looked bashful, and then became very pleased with himself indeed.

Ven gazed longingly at the pile of chocolate just waiting to be eaten but let Aqua drag him away for lunch first. They pulled on some scruffy old clothes, not bothered about respectability today; Ven just threw on a clean nightshirt, he was too lazy to find anything else. They ate the traditional roast meal, with some added extras Mel had concocted including roasted chestnuts, caramel cakes, and a sticky sort of marshmallow treat with crackers, jam, and chocolate sauce. It sounded utterly bizarre at first, but she showed Ven how to make them by the open fire in the common room, and he decided it was the best thing he'd ever tasted

They spent the afternoon lazily munching on chocolate and chestnuts, inwardly shivering at the exercise regime Aqua was going to put them on to work off all the fat afterwards. Mel started playing a complicated game with Terra, involving her deck of tarot cards and the knucklebones. Ven didn't even begin to understand the rules, so he sat by with Aqua and Leo, absorbed in their own conversation.

"I can't believe it's been only been about four and a half months," she said, watching Terra throw the bones and curse the way they landed. "It feels like much longer than that…"

Leo grunted and stretched his neck, yawning widely before he curled up into a huge feathered ball and started to snore.

"She looks a lot different now," Ven added, thinking back on the tiny slip of a girl that had appeared on their doorstep. She had been afraid to speak back then, keeping mostly to herself and looked like a startled rabbit whenever someone spoke to her. Mind you, she still freaked out when she met someone new who was loud and boisterous, but she was much calmer and happier in herself over all.

"I think we should get her a hair cut," Aqua smiled. She had convinced Mel to tuck her hair behind her ears, so they could see her face properly, and it was quite a transformation. Her eyes stood out even more now that her hair wasn't obscuring them.

Ven smiled to himself, watching Mel as she considered the cards in her hand, munching on an apple thoughtfully before she put a card down and Terra flopped dramatically onto his back, declaring he was giving up. "She looks better when you can see her face. She's really pretty…"

"Aww, Ven!" Aqua cooed, and Ven scowled, his face prickling with heat. "Could it be you _like_ Mel?"

"_No_," he imitated her simper, grimacing at the words that had come quite innocently from his mouth. "Like you're one to talk!" He was happy for her and Terra, of course he was. It was just a bit disconcerting that his two bestest friends could be found kissing each other around the castle at any given time. Aside from Master Eraqus, they had practically raised him; Terra's joke about the carriage hadn't really been that far off the mark.

Aqua smiled evilly and hugged him, mussing up his hair. "You're so adorable when you're mad!"

"Get off me!" he whined. "I'm not a kid anymore!" he pushed himself away from her and huffed in annoyance, glaring at the opposite wall. He relented when she put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a loving squeeze. "You're a real pain, you know that Aqua?"

"You set yourself up for it so easily," she said, sitting back against the sofa and closing her eyes.

XOXOX

As the evening drew in, the activities wound right down and Terra fell onto the sofa with a groan, throwing an arm dramatically over his eyes as he submitted to another defeat in Mel's card game. Aqua smiled and crawled up alongside him so she was wedged between him and the back of the sofa. She snuggled up against his chest, feeling warm and sleepy after all those chocolates.

There was a familiar _flump_ as Leo collapsed in a heap on the floor against the sofa, but her eyes were closed so she didn't see. Terra's arm shifted so it was wound around her waist, and leaned his cheek against the crown of her head. Ven snickered from somewhere nearby, but she ignored him.

Something jingled and tinkled from right above their heads and she forced her eyes open to look up and see what it was. Leo had lifted his tail and holding his large fins over them, a small wreath of holly, bells and a sprig of mistletoe dangling from it just before where the fin started. Aqua put a hand to her forehead, giggling uncontrollably.

Terra leaned over and wrapped an arm around Mel's neck from where she was perched on Leo's back, where the saddle normally sat. She yelped but didn't resist until he rubbed his knuckles into her scalp.

"You little sneak!" he said fondly while Mel tried to escape.

"I have no idea what you mean," she said as calmly as she could while trying to twist her way free. He let her go and she flopped against Leo's neck, who was giving Terra and amused look. He shook his tail again, making the bells tinkle and raising his eyebrows – all wide eyed and innocent.

Aqua smiled, and turned to look at Terra, who was lying back with his eyes closed, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all. He opened his eyes to look up at her, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She flicked a lock of hair out of his face before she leant down and kissed him. She felt his hand reach up and intertwine in her hair, just before she heard Ven making a series of disgustingly loud kissing sounds. She pulled back and shot him a venomous look; he was perched on the point of Leo's hips, facing away from her, and he had wrapped his arms around himself so that from where she was it looked like someone was hugging him – or attempting to grope, more correctly. He was trying to parody them… Mel had sat up somewhat more straightly but when Ven started his imitation she slid neatly forward again so she landed with her face in Leo's feathered neck, and didn't stir.

Aqua was about to give Ven a piece of her mind, but she felt Terra's hand on her face and turned to look at him. He pulled her down for another kiss, ignoring Ven completely. Or so she thought; he kicked out at Ven with his right foot, catching him squarely at the base of his spine. Ven yelped as he lost balance and slid neatly off Leo's hind legs and onto the floor in a heap. Mel giggled despite herself, and Aqua collapsed against Terra's chest, laughing as well. Ven sat up on the floor, and he and Terra started laughing too.

"You're absolutely ridiculous! Both of you," Aqua said as Ven scrambled over Leo's back onto the sofa. He curled up at the opposite end to them and stretched his legs out, using Leo as a footrest.

"I regret nothing." He beamed at her before closing his eyes and settling in for a little snooze.

They all lapsed into silence after that; Leo put his tail back down on the floor behind the sofa and curled up to sleep. Mel huddled into a ball on his back, and seemed to drift off quite quickly. Ven's breathing slowed and deepened, and soon he was snoring quietly to himself, leaning at an awkward angle that would give him neck pains when he woke up, mouth hanging open. Aqua stretched her limbs before she burrowed deeper into Terra's side; his chest rose and fell in time with his breathing, and she could feel his pulse against her nose from where her face was nestled in the crook of his neck – strong and slow.

It was almost impossible to feel anxious on Christmas Day. Well, almost… Ven's last words before he drifted off to sleep had been, "This is my _favourite_ part of Christmas!" when they were all piled together. All the small things that preyed on the mind, the trivial things that hardly mattered to the grand scheme of things, though they were still there, there were other things that preyed on her mind – much bigger than her missing hairbrush and whether she had been too harsh on Ven's latest essay.

Ever since that evening when she had awoken to find Terra had witnessed her nightmare, she had been trying to keep a lid on the situation. During one of their lengthy debates about magic at the library table, Mel had given a few interesting views on them – one of which was the idea that emotional energy was teased out in your sleep, thus giving rise to dreams surrounding things you were scared or worried about. A 'dream' or 'vision quest' was a term for a shamanic meditative state you could consciously achieve to seek help or to start the process yourself rather than wait for the subconscious mind to kick in by itself. It was a very intriguing concept, but Aqua had abstained from trying it herself; Terra and Ven had tried and failed to find the state of mind required for the exercise, and Terra had even fallen asleep. Mel had sat with her back straight, legs folded and hands on her knees for nearly twenty minutes before she came back to them, and said it had felt more like six hours where she had gone. Apparently, she had seen her old home though it looked different to her now, and she saw two people in black cloaks running down a darkened pathway in the shade of the trees. She couldn't say who they were, and there were other things that happened that she didn't elaborate on, or tell them full stop; all Aqua knew was she had followed a pack of wolves. It seemed the rest of the quest was deeply personal and not to be shared lightly, even amongst them.

It sounded nice, what Mel described; but deliberately diving into a dream…the Darkness seemed to creep upon her when she closed her eyes, and Aqua was resorting to reading late and getting up early to prepare lessons and read some more. Memories she had kept at bay because of the light she received from her friends were slowly but surely catching her up. As much for her own sake, as the sake of her friends, she didn't want to face them yet. Remembering that time was painful, almost as painful as the look in Terra's eyes as he sat by powerless to help her.

Aqua sighed loudly to herself, gripping Terra more tightly – feeling his strong, physical presence and reminding herself where she was. Snow drifted past the window, the fire was low in the hearth, and besides her own there were four different sets of slow, deep breaths. The light was soft, illuminating the walls and the decorations around them – but it didn't seem to penetrate very far.

Terra grunted in his sleep before he tried to twist away from her, mumbling, "Not breathing…"

"Oh!" Aqua had been squeezing him so hard it had woken him up. She let go, worried she had hurt him, but he settled down again without a word, arms draped around her and his nose buried in her hair. "Sorry…" He mumbled something indistinct and fell straight to sleep again. She let her fingers weave themselves through his hair – a reminder of the solid _present_, as opposed to the shaded past.

XOXOX

Boxing Day celebrations were cut off short as the majority of the Restoration Committee came down with the same stomach bug, and Ansem sent them all home lest they contract it too. Leo looked severely put out, but they placated him with a romp in the snow, which made him cheer up. Aqua half-heartedly tried to get them to work, but with New Years the following week, and Christmas only just behind them, she gave up fairly quickly.

Leo grew another two feet in length, and Aqua announced he was _almost_ a juvenile. His wings needed to be just a bit longer in order for the classification to become official. From the tiny, scrawny little chick he had been, he had become an enormous, sleek, powerful predator. Or at least, he would be if he could just lose that childish air about him. Namely, the yearning urge to chase his own tail and get his nose stuck into everything that didn't concern him. The one good thing about his nosiness was that it highlighted to Terra that Aqua wasn't quite right in her mind about something. He followed her everywhere, more so than usual and kept calling her name, rubbing his face against her and being a general affectionate pain.

It was during a snow themed training session outside that Terra really noticed something was wrong; Aqua had dark rings under her eyes, and she kept stifling yawns. While Ven and Mel grappled on the training field, sliding in the watery mud they had churned up earlier, Leo kept trying to hug Aqua and show his love and affection by smothering her with his embrace. She good-naturedly put up with it, and when Terra challenged her about her physical state she made light of it and insisted it was just a few nights bad sleep. She blamed Christmas for it, but Terra wasn't convinced.

Eventually, she poked him in the stomach and said, "Maybe I would have slept better that night without _you_ four snoring!"

Leo cocked his head to one side before staring hard at the ground. He looked up again and gave them a look that said plainly, "Me? _Snore_?"

Terra let it slide, but he didn't let it go. Apart from the sheer, over whelming relief of reunion, she had never ventured any information on what had happened to her for all those years, something he had respected until now. Ever since he had seen her having a nightmare he couldn't shake the feeling, though he tried to bury it diligently. He didn't quite feel ready to divulge his own memories, and he knew it would be hypocritical of him to expect her to do so just because he couldn't stand not knowing.

Mel had surely noticed something, but she was as loyal and dutiful as ever and when he approached her she merely stated it 'wasn't her place' to comment. Terra loved Mel for her steadfast loyalty and commitment, but at the same time he found it intensely frustrating. Ven wasn't much help either – he stubbornly refused to comment too, though he gave Terra a long sideways glance before saying, "You're not the only one who's worried about her, you know."

There wasn't much he could say to that, so Terra dropped the subject. At least Leo was on his side, and actively trying to do something. It was hard for him to communicate such a complex thought, because he couldn't speak the same way they did. Instead, he took every opportunity to show his love and support to her, which Aqua seemed to appreciate, even if he did knock her over a few times by accident.

Three days after the disastrous Boxing Day celebrations Terra came down with a bad headache that even Mel's remedies couldn't fix. He took painkillers and went to bed after she had smeared his forehead with lavender oil, falling into a fitful sleep from which he awoke around about midnight. The pain had subsided to a dull throbbing ache that lessened when he sat up; he crawled out of bed and grabbed a glass on his bedside table to get a drink, and dragged himself to the bathroom.

He was tired, disorientated, and yawning widely when he noticed several odd things at once. The bathroom light was already on, and Aqua's door was wide open. And Leo was sat crouched on the floor by the bathroom, rumbling at the back of his throat with something that sounded like distress. As Terra stilled to take stock of the situation, he heard a retching noise and the familiar sounds that generally followed.

Leo gave a small caw, sticking his head through the door, his shoulders far to big to allow entrance. Terra rushed up to the door and pushed his way past; Leo tried to manoeuvre himself out of the way with great difficulty, because he was reluctant to leave.

Aqua was on her knees, slumped against the toilet, shaking violently. Terra crouched beside her and felt her forehead; she was cold and clammy. And she didn't seem entirely in touch with reality either; Aqua lashed out at him uncontrollably, trembling all over and biting back a sob. He tried to reach for her, give her some comfort or support – _anything_, but she struck out at him clumsily and cried some rebuff, just before her body convulsed and she threw up again.

Terra held her up, trying his best to keep her hair out of the way, and she shivered in her thin nightclothes against the cold air. Behind them Terra could hear Leo whining anxiously and strain against the doorframe that refused to yield.

Aqua tried to push him away, wiping her mouth and gasping for air, choking on something at the back of her throat. He tried to wipe her hair from her face, but she grabbed his wrist and flung it away from her, snarling. She was clearly not in a fit state of mind, but it still hurt him all the same as she violently rejected his help. Aqua tried to escape, but her legs wouldn't support her and she collapsed in a twitching heap.

"Aqua, _please_," he begged her, trying to roll her into the recovery position.

"No!" she cried, thrashing wildly against him.

"Aqua, it's _me_!"

"Go away!"

He caught her fist before it could connect with his jaw, and she struggled uselessly against him. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her teeth were gritted as she tried to squash them down. She kept her eyes clamped shut, as if she was terrified of the light in the room.

"Aqua!" he threw caution to the winds and shook her hard. Maybe she was still asleep and sleep walking? It was a lame theory, but he couldn't think of anything else.

She suddenly opened her eyes and blinked in the dazzling light before she closed them again, and rammed the heel of her hand into her eye sockets, shaking and crying but no longer struggling. She chanced a glance at him and cringed away, another sob breaking violently in her chest, and she slumped against the floor listlessly.

"Aqua," he said more softly, stroking her hair and manoeuvring her into the recovery position again. "What's wrong?" he desperately wanted to know so he could do something to help. All she did in response was curl into a ball and cry quietly, shying away from his touch.

Terra took his glass to the sink and filled it with water before he returned to her side and slowly made her sit up. She drank and rinsed her mouth out without resistance, refusing to look at him. There was nothing he could do for her emotionally, so Terra did what he could physically and cleaned her up, wiping the tears and vomit from her face and neck and getting her to blow her nose. He then dashed back to her room and wrenched the dressing gown from its hook on the back of her door before racing back to throw it over her. Leo looked disgusted that he had abandoned his post, but bounced for joy when he came straight back.

_Oh ye of little faith…_ Terra thought to himself, wrapping the garment around Aqua's shoulders. She pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her forehead against them, still refusing to look at him. He put his arms around her, and she tried to lean away from him. He wasn't sure which hurt him more, her distress or her rejection. All he could do was wait until Aqua decided to move, which she eventually did, stiffly and slowly unfurling before trying to get onto her hands and knees.

"Here," he put an arm around her waist and slowly helped her to stand. She pushed him away, shaking her head. "Aqua,"

"I'm fine," she croaked, staggering sideways towards the wall. "Just leave me." For a moment her lip trembled at her choice of words and then she put a hand to her head, using her arm to shield her face as a fresh wave of tears spilled down her cheeks.

"No." he said firmly, pulling her into his arms. "I won't." he tried to cup her face in his hands, force her to look at him, and she resisted feebly.

"Just go away," she begged him, her voice cracking with every syllable. "Please…"

"No," he said stubbornly, holding his ground. "Tell me, what's wrong?"

She shook her head again, and he waited patiently for her to speak. Eventually, she said, "Just a stupid dream. And I feel sick. Just go away."

A memory arose in his mind; _years_ ago when they were just kids, and she had been really ill with a high fever and intense vomiting. She'd told Master Eraqus the same thing, to just leave her alone, and of course he hadn't taken the blindest bit of notice of her ramblings then. So Terra wouldn't now.

"That's a crap excuse." He told her, and despite everything, she shot him a withering look. At least she really was back in reality now. "Come on," she resisted him, refusing to walk, so he swept her off her feet and over his shoulder so all she could do was feebly beat her fists against his back, which she gave up when he was halfway towards the stairs at the end of the corridor. Terra took her to the common room and dumped her carefully on the sofa, leaving Leo with the strict instruction that she wasn't to get up. As he left, Aqua was struggling against Leo's huge muzzle, which he pressed against her stomach and effectively pinned her to the cushions.

"I hate you," she said impulsively when Terra returned with the biggest mug he could find, filled with hot chocolate.

"Yeah, yeah," the number of times she had screamed that at him when they were kids…

Aqua refused to accept the drink, and even gave Leo a shove when he wouldn't get out of her face. He wasn't to be deterred, and she lashed out at them both when Terra tried to pass her the mug.

"Just back off!" she fairly screamed at him, nearly knocking the mug from his hands.

Leo spooked as a splash of hot liquid went flying and landed on his still sore leg. He yelped and jumped out of the way, licking at the offended limb and whining loudly.

Aqua stared dumbly at him as he nursed his wounded pride, and slowly crumbled in on herself again. This time, when Terra reached for her after carefully setting the mug down out of the way, she didn't resist; she threw her arms around him and howled into his shoulder with grief. There was nothing he could do except hold her – it opened a painful rift in his heart, tied to a memory of his hand wrapped around her neck, his body bent on destruction while his mind screamed for it to stop – unheeded. It was the same feeling of powerlessness; there was nothing he could do.

When at last Aqua managed to calm down somewhat, she spent a few moments trying to get her voice to work, and eventually murmured, "S-s-s-sor-rr-y…"

This time, when he pressed the mug into her hands, she didn't push it away. By now the contents had cooled and she gulped it down before bowing her head over the mug, still crying though much more sedately. It felt like someone had wrapped Terra's heart in a vice and was trying to wrench it over to one side – his chest ached physically, and much like the situation, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Eventually, Aqua leaned forward and dumped the mug on the floor, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand and breathing heavily in an attempt to keep control. When she seemed more steady again, Terra braved the topic and asked the question that been burning in his throat.

"What brought this on?"

Aqua looked at her knees, still held close to her chest, and took a long time to respond. "I…" her breathing hitched again. "I…can't sleep. I…can't close…my eyes…" she was still grieving, but the howling anguish from before seemed to be spent for now. "Everywhere – I – I look…its too dark…"

Terra stilled, not sure if he was ready to hear this yet, after he had been so intent on doing so before…and it seemed she wasn't sure if she was ready to speak of it yet.

"I don't…want to see it anymore." Aqua was rocking slowly back and forth, her eyes glazed and distant, somewhere far away where he couldn't reach her. "But I can't make the shadows go away…"

"Aqua…" he sidled up to her and put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him without a struggle. "What happened?"

She gulped, and had to take several steadying breaths before she spoke. "I couldn't go anywhere." Her voice was hollow, almost dead. "Just nothing but darkness and shadows. I spent hours…hours just walking, praying you two were okay."

Something seemed to punch Terra squarely in his gut, right in his solar plexus, and he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent in an attempt to calm himself.

"I thought…I…I thought that…" her shoulders heaved with a suppressed sob. "I thought I'd never see you again! I left Ven all alone – I got you out of the darkness, but I didn't know where you'd gone – I didn't know what had happened to your heart–! I was so afraid something would happen and I'd never know! And then…" what little composure she had managed to scrape together dissolved. "Bits and pieces…of worlds I knew, appeared…something awful had happened…I…I was so afraid…I couldn't do anything, I was out of my mind with worry…but I was trapped. I wanted to do something – I wanted to protect you and Ven, but I couldn't. I promised I would, and I couldn't!"

"It's not your fault," Terra said as firmly as he could, rubbing her back soothingly. "You said yourself, there wasn't anything you could do."

"I almost gave in." She admitted, and he sat up straighter, trying to look her in the eye. "It was so tempting. To sink into oblivion, rather than keep dragging myself forward. I almost forgot how to smile; I almost forgot my own name… I thought at one point I'd gone insane – I kept seeing you, and Ven in the distance. I thought you were trapped there too, but no matter how fast I ran, they kept fading into the shadows. I…I just wanted to give up…I didn't think I'd ever get out…I wanted to fade into the darkness where I didn't have to think anymore. It seemed, easier… But…I just couldn't bring myself to do it. One small part of me kept saying, 'what if they come looking for you? What if there's a way out and they're waiting for you?' that last bastion of hope kept me going. And it was the one thing that nearly destroyed me. Hoping on a 'what if'…" she dashed the tears away impatiently, breathing harshly. "I was so disgusted with myself…"

Terra couldn't take it anymore; he pulled her close to him, and tried to press her into his chest. Her arms went around his waist and she clung to him like a drowning sailor clinging to a rock at sea. He knew she would never blame him, that she would blame Xehanort instead, and chose to fret over his chosen path – but that didn't change the fact he had had a hand in this. He remembered his own entrapment; not knowing what had become of Ven, knowing deep down Aqua had sacrificed herself for _him_, knowing nothing could be done…

"Aqua!"

Terra looked up and saw Ven framed in the doorway, tousle haired and wide eyed. Mel appeared at his elbow moments later, followed by Leo; they entered the room and Aqua quickly tried to wipe her tears away and gather some semblance or normality. She stood up awkwardly when Ven sat beside her, waving him away and insisting she was fine. She managed to take a few steps away from the sofa before her legs gave out and she almost hit the floor. Almost, because Mel stepped forward a split second before she fell. The two of them slowly sank to the floor and Mel withdrew a large eagle feather from within her knitted cardigan-jumper. Getting Aqua to sit up on her knees, Mel made passing movements over her body with the feather, murmuring something under her breath and sweeping at the air in a figure of eight. Terra sent out his senses and realised she was using the feather to channel energy from Aqua's body, and was sweeping it out of her system and down towards the ground. It was another cleansing ritual.

When she had finished Mel put a hand on Aqua's forehead, and she visibly relaxed, slumping forward against the younger woman's shoulders. Ven helped her to sit up again, and Mel with her eyes still on Aqua, reached for Terra, who had got up to join them, with her right hand. He felt the peculiar sensation that her hand had sunk straight into his stomach and brushed against his spine, but when he looked down all he saw was her hand pressed flat against his solar plexus, and a distinct warmth radiating from it. She repeated the motion against his abdomen and his heart, and he realised she was interacting with his chakras. From what he could remember, she was touching on the energy points of power, emotion and compassion respectively. He looked at her for what felt like the very first time; her light was like that of a candle, it was soft and illuminated a surprisingly large area around her, but right at the core was a single bright flame that left an after image burned into your vision if you looked too long. Terra had learnt how to sense for the light and the dark in people's hearts, but as he really reached for Mel's for the first time, he found the most extraordinary blend of the two, spinning slowly together – neither one consuming or engulfing the other, but rather existing in tandem. Her green eyes were incredibly piercing when she looked up at him, but he felt the energy in his body sink down and root him to floor, keeping him grounded. She gave him a small smile before turning back to Aqua, and he felt her unspoken understanding in that moment.

Leo trundled over to them and flopped to the floor, creating a warm wall to lean against, and Aqua clumsily hugged him, murmuring, "I'm so sorry…" he licked her face, humming happily and assuring all was forgiven. He must have slipped away when Terra wasn't paying attention to get the others.

"Aqua," Ven said, kneeling before her and holding her at arms length by the shoulders. "I understand if you don't want to tell us what happened. But, you don't have to carry that burden by yourself and act like its nothing just for our sake. It makes me worry about you even more."

She looked up at him with something like awe, and even Terra was surprised by the deep-seated maturity Ven showed. She put her arms around him and held him close while she cried.

"All those years…I left you alone…can you forgive me…?"

"Of course not!" Ven blurted out. "Cause there's nothing to forgive!" he gave her a loving squeeze. "You did the best you could at the time. That's all that mattered back then. And you're here with us now, which is all that matters _now_."

Aqua let them fuss over her, and she spoke haltingly about her time in the Realm of Darkness. They didn't question or comment, they didn't judge or criticize – they just listened. Despite the great gravity of her words, the more she talked about the bitter loneliness and nagging grief for everything she had lost, the more she seemed brighten, and Mel seemed to be actively channelling it away. She sat with her legs close to her chest, ankles crossed and leaning her elbows on her knees, and the feather in her hand kept spinning in a set pattern; first counter-clockwise thirteen times, then clockwise seven times, and then three times in a straight up and down movement at the floor before starting over again. It took a long time for Terra to realise what Mel was channelling, and he only realised during a long pause in Aqua's words, while she curled up into a ball against his side waiting for Ven to bring more hot chocolate to them all. As Aqua was getting everything off her chest, Mel was siphoning off the negativity and channelling it back to the ground, back to the earth beneath them, rather than letting it be released where it could collect and stagnate. Ven returned with more drinks and Aqua continued, describing each and every emotion, each and every worry, each and every regret. Oddly enough, as Terra watched the feather's endless dance through the still air, he found he didn't feel quite so terrible inside anymore. And it seemed neither did Aqua; she managed a genuine smile when Ven hugged her, and though tears slide silently down her cheeks the dam of grief that had shattered seemed to be completely spent. Terra guessed this when Mel placed her feather on the windowsill and burrowed into the heap of bodies on the floor.

When Aqua eventually ran out of things to say, they all curled up together against Leo's feathered belly and one by one fell asleep.

Aqua was nestled in the middle, with Mel laying on her side in-between her legs, head cushioned on Aqua's chest. Ven was curled up against her left side, snoring gently every so often, his cheek pillowed against the crook of her waist. Terra was on her right, his arms around her and his own cheek laid against her shoulder. He thought he and Leo were the last ones awake, but she stirred and finally turned to meet his eyes. In the dim light from the near extinct fire, they looked much darker than usual, but the light that reflected off them was genuine.

"Terra…?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, about earlier. I…I wasn't fully awake, and I thought…"

"Sssh," he put a finger to her lips to silence her.

"I didn't think straight…" she said, barely more than a whisper.

"It's all right." He said, wiping a single tear from her cheek with his thumb.

She smiled weakly at him, and he pressed his lips against her temple. After that, Aqua seemed to drift into an easy sleep, and he lowered his head to her shoulder again, letting the waves of tiredness that were creeping up on him carry him into a pleasant and dreamless sleep.

XOXOX

It was dark, but so wonderfully warm when Aqua opened her eyes. She didn't know where she was, but when she tried to move she found herself hemmed in on all sides, and feathers brushing against her cheeks. Leo's massive wing was spread over their heads, keeping them cocooned in a warm and comfortable pocket of air. It was like being inside a womb – safe, sheltered, everything you needed provided for you. She felt the light and the love of her friends in the air around her, a residual energy that vibrated and hummed in a bubble around them. It seemed Mel had erected a shield about them earlier when they settled down to sleep; it was a web of gold, silver, bronze and copper threads that made an impenetrable barrier that deflected anything that wasn't positive or beneficial to them.

Memories of the night crept up on her, but she didn't feel to bothered for some reason. All the build up of emotions and feelings was gone – a lingering, nagging feeling of pain and loss lingered in her heart, but it felt like a small scar that was mostly healed, not the festering, gaping wound it had been when she'd dragged herself to the bathroom in a fit of despair.

Aqua's heart twinged painfully when she thought of how Terra must have felt. Her body had been racked with grief, her mind had been delirious; all she had seen of him at first through her shuttered vision was silvery white hair and lamp like yellow eyes. The memory of it still echoed in her mind, and she cringed away from it – she had shed too many tears already that night.

Leo grunted in his sleep and shifted his neck; the darkness parted for a moment to reveal the glowing coals of the fire, and the weak sunlight streaming through the open curtains. He stuck his head through the gap, and the darkness descended again, though there was just enough light to see by. Leo snaked his way over the tangle of bodies around Aqua and he pressed his warm muzzle against her face. She smiled and stroked his plumage, marvelling at the growth of new feathers along the underside of his jaw, almost but not quite like a beard, or stubble. There was a deep and happy rumble from the very back of his throat and he opened his eyes to look at her.

Warm, golden…like amber or honey – not the cold withering yellow of the eyes that had haunted her nightmares. Set in a friendly face of black feathers fetched with faint purple and raven blues. His tongue flicked out to lick her cheek and he cooed in his baritone voice.

"Ahhhkwah."

"Thanks, Leo." She scratched under his chin and he heard his tail somewhere nearby thump against the ground with ecstasy. He lowered his head so it was partially against Terra's lap, and Mel's hand reached out blindly in her sleep so her fingers hooked themselves into his feathers. The rumble of happiness rippled through his entire body. Ven snuffled in his sleep, but didn't stir from where he was curled up against Aqua's side. Leo twisted around and licked Mel's face, and she cuddled up against his neck, pulling him closer and he closed his eyes with a satisfied hum.

Terra groaned, and she could feel his eyelashes flutter against the skin of her neck. He pulled back momentarily to stretch his stiff limbs before he cuddled up against her side again with a sigh. Aqua smiled, and raised her hand to brush her fingers against his cheek. He raised his own hand to meet hers, but didn't open his eyes again.

"I'm sorry…" she murmured to him. She didn't like to think what had been going through his mind last night…

"Shu'up…" he mumbled only just coherently. "S'not your fault…"

"Thank you."

"N'prob…" he was clearly out of it.

Aqua suppressed a giggle, feeling lighter than she had for a while, and pressed her lips against his hair. He exhaled against her throat, his nose skimming against her pulse; Terra raised an arm and slung it gracelessly across her chest, so his fingers were tangled in the sleeve of her nightshirt at her shoulder.

"_I'm_ sorry…" he murmured. "But I know you won't accept it…"

"Because it's not your fault." She said firmly, feeling the pricklings of an impending argument. It would be so very typical of them both to end up at loggerheads with each other over it, such a stupid thing to fight over…

"And it's not _your _fault either." He said stubbornly.

Aqua sighed with exasperation, and she frowned when he started to giggle. "What's so funny?"

"Us. Fighting like this. It's not something we _should_ be fighting over. But…still, it's kinda funny, isn't it?"

"What, that you're an insufferable twerp?" she challenged.

Terra sat up slowly, trying not to disturb the others. In the dim light his eyes were dark, like black holes, and despite herself Aqua felt herself being drawn towards them. His hair was a tangled mess, and his shirt hung awkwardly off one of his shoulders. It was all infuriatingly endearing.

"Say that again," he dared her in a low voice, making her inwardly squirm in an altogether not unpleasant manner.

"You." She said, trying to ignore the way her heart was skipping every other beat. "Are. An _insufferable_.Twerp."

Terra's hand tilted her chin so she was looking straight up at him, his eyes burning with her challenge, and something else she didn't quite recognise. When he kissed her, it was rougher than usual but no less loving. It took her by surprise, and she felt paralysed by the force of it. She was also acutely aware of Mel and Ven, curled up so close to her; she didn't want to wake them, and she didn't want an audience to watch as Terra completely undid her. She squeaked when she felt his teeth scrape against her bottom lip, and flushed profusely when she heard herself whimper as his lips ghosted across the skin of her throat and his teeth again nipped at her. She knew exactly what he was doing – trying to rile her up, embarrass her, knowing full well if the others were watching she would be mortified, and was using that threat against her to keep her quiet.

She was going to kill him for this later.

But at the same time, though Mel was curled up against her stomach and Ven burrowed into her side, Aqua didn't want Terra to stop. She had read enough romance novels to know about this sort of thing, but reading it in a book sat comfortably in a chair by yourself, and experiencing it first hand with someone you were attached to, were two completely different things. Maybe if she were alone with him, she would react with a bit more poise and grace…

Terra's lips moved back to her mouth, and she felt his tongue brush against hers before he pulled back, and she felt again that inexorable draw his gaze drew upon her. She was disorientated, breathless, and what little she had seemed to be sucked out of her lungs.

"I love you," he murmured, stroking her face, the sincerity in his eyes almost unbearable. "So much…"

"T-Terra," she stammered before he leant down again.

Aqua let her fingers tangle themselves in his hair, and she felt his hands on her body, skipping around where the others were using her as a pillow. One hand curled around her side, his thumb tracing a random and sprawling pattern against her ribs through the thin fabric of her shirt, the other hand cupped against the side of her face, tilting it to give him the best angle from which to kiss her. She had no idea how long they were there like that; time just seemed to still completely. In the back of her mind, she wondered what he thought of the small noises that kept sounding at the back of her throat – she was horrified at how easily he drew them from her, just by being rougher than normal with his kisses. But when she tried to reciprocate, feeling totally inadequate as she chewed on his lip, she heard a deep groan from him and he pressed against her even more. She let her eyes open to see his reaction, and saw his face was as flushed as her own.

Something swatted at Terra's hand, which instantly drew both of them to attention. Ven had aimed a punch at him, and he grumbled as he settled back down comfortably.

"Look, I get you're both _so_ madly in love with each other." He sneered at them. "But could you try having sex some other time when I'm _not_ around? I'm trying to sleep…"

"Ventus," Terra hissed, his face bright red.

Aqua wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

"Spare a thought for the rest of us poor and desperately single souls. I don't wanna hear you sucking each other's faces off. That's unfair – and _disgusting_!"

Terra's patience snapped and he dived for Ven with a snarl. The younger man screamed and tried to crawl away but Terra grabbed him in a headlock and started choking him.

"Guys!" Aqua shouted at them, angry and embarrassed.

Mel, who had been sent sprawling as Terra lunged, sat up with a bemused expression, taking a hair band and tying her hair back.

"I wasn't asleep," she mumbled, yawning widely.

"Weren't you, indeed." Aqua said, amused despite the situation.

"No." Mel yawned again. "I was resting my kidneys."

Aqua giggled, and tucked the girl's hair behind her ears absently. "I'm sorry we woke you."

"That's okay. Sounds like Ven deserved it,"

They both watched dispassionately as Terra ground Ven's face into the carpet, promising dire retribution if he ever spoke of this moment again.

"Are you all right?" Mel asked shyly, wiping a stray lock of hair out of Aqua's face.

She smiled down at her and said, "Yes, thank you," and she pulled Mel into a tight hug, squeezing her.

"I'm going to get a drink," Mel said when she let go. "My head's pounding…"

Aqua smiled sadly. She knew Mel had been instigating a healing ritual last night while she wailed her grief out – it must have taken a lot of energy from her.

"I'm okay," she said, smiling up at Aqua. "It's just hot chocolate is an emotional booster, not an energetic refueler. I need water,"

Aqua watched her as she stumbled towards the kitchen, and then sighed as Leo put his head on her shoulder, watching the two boys beat each other up. Honestly, what was she going to _do_ with them? She remembered her childhood, partly spent beating up Terra every time he made a snide remark or coated her hairbrush with honey. How Master Eraqus had put up with them, especially after Ven started joining in, would forever be a mystery.

"Guys," she began, but they didn't heed her. "Quit it. Boys, _seriously_." Nothing.

Aqua stood up and marched over to them, grabbing each one by the hair and pulling up. Ven yelped and scrabbled at her hand, while Terra snarled and threw her a filthy look.

"Hey! Put me down!" Ven whined.

"Let me _go_." Terra growled.

"I _said_," Aqua snapped, drawing the best 'I _am _the Master' stance she could. "_Quit it_. The pair of you are as bad as each other!"

"He started it!" Ven wailed, eyes closed. He already knew the argument was over, and he wasn't going to back out gracefully.

"I'm gonna kill you," Terra snarled at him, and Aqua pulled on his hair hard enough to make him wince.

"Not if I kill you both _first_!"

XOXOX

"WOO HOO!" Sora yelled, flying through the air before crashing into the sea, creating a large wave as he went.

Leo roared his laughter, flicking his tail from side the side as Ven climbed onto his back.

"My turn!" he shouted over Riku's laughter.

Leo was playing a game, to try and throw them as far out to sea as he could. Of course, they didn't get very far, but it was still apparently fun to go flying through the air and hit the water at high speed. Sora was already crashing his way back to the beach, grinning from ear to ear, shrieking, "Again, again!" as if he were five years old.

Terra watched with amusement as first Ven, and the Riku went hurtling through the air, and then started an argument with Sora about who had flown the furthest. Lea hadn't been able to attend today; something about a 'lovely lady' that Ven had been sworn to secrecy over. He would get his throat torn out by Lea if he said anything, but he still dangled the bait of knowledge at Terra to wind him up with his usual, '_I know something you don't!_' routine. He had started this new game with the other boys when it failed to impress or annoy Terra.

Mel and Kairi had spent most of the afternoon building the mother of all sand castles – in truth it looked more like a palace, and it was even better than before after they had repaired the damage Riku and Sora had wrought upon it by running through the construction site. A sound thrashing from Kairi after she had chased them all over the island was enough to deter them from interfering in their work again. Terra wondered over to see how it was going as Mel was fetching the taller turrets with seaweed and bird feathers.

"Wow, you guys really went to town!"

"Thanks!" Kairi grinned over the bucket of water in her hands. "It's gonna be the _best_ sand city ever!"

"We need more over here," Mel said, scrabbling around in the soggy sand. "This tower's going to collapse…"

Terra left them to their devices and looked around him at the island. It was just as he remembered; calm, peaceful, so full of light. The wooden structures creaked as they settled after the heat of the midday sun, and the trees swayed pleasantly in the soft breeze. Everything was a soft colour of either a pink or green hue, washed with gloriously soft white sand. The shouts of playful fighting wafted past on the wind while Leo roared and pounced his way through the shallows, trying and failing to catch the tiny fish that darted past his feet.

Aqua had forced them all to wear t-shirts to protect them from the sun; Sora and Riku were wearing identical grey and white shirts stamped with the crest of their school on the mainland, and Kairi was wearing a white one with a picture of a cartoon bee followed by a long wiggly line of 'Z's and the legend 'I'm a busy bee!' emblazoned along the collar. Mel had pulled out an old white and faded grey striped button down shirt that went down to her elbows. Terra had inwardly cringed when he first saw her back in the swimsuit she had borrowed from Kairi, which was now thankfully hidden by her shirt. There was a large, ugly looking scar surrounded by skin that looked as if it had been burnt at one point, right at the centre of her back, trailing off down to the right towards her hips. He and Aqua had exchanged looks but didn't pass comment; Ven had asked weakly about it, and she shrugged with the best poker face she could managed.

"Not everyone takes kindly to magic." Was all she had said.

It was heartening to know she didn't think it was a big deal herself – Riku and Kairi looked a little concerned when they saw, but they soon forgot as Sora tipped a bucker of water over them all and ran away cackling while Mel threw a thunder spell at him. At least Sora didn't seem to care at all; he couldn't have missed it, and when asked by Ven after a snide remark from Riku, Sora showed them the large scar _he_ had down the back of his thigh and knee. Something about falling out of a tree when he was eight…

Ven had taken his own shirt off and was attempting to swim the island in one breath. Leo followed him with interest, and of course he didn't get far. Mel hooked his shirt out of the water before it could float away on the tide and looked for a place to hang it to dry.

"I'll take it," Terra offered, and set off for the circular bricked up plinth of land stranded in the middle of the bay. As he climbed the stairs in the shack he wrung the water from the shirt, noting it was one of his own he had passed on to Ven when he outgrew it.

"You know there's a ladder, right?" Aqua told him as he joined her by the tree that was bent double, where the star shaped fruit grew.

"Where?" he asked, shaking the garment out and placing it over the kink where the tree bowed over.

"There," she pointed at the top, just visible, leading down into the water.

It would have been faster, but… "Don't feel like swimming," he told her, just as Ven yelled because Leo had pounced on top of him.

Aqua gave him a humorous look, slipping a bookmark between the pages she had been reading from. She tossed the book to one side and leaned back, looking up at the bright azure sky with a smile. Terra tired not to let his gaze wonder too far from her face. It seemed she had had a wardrobe crisis before they left when she found her only bikini top didn't fit her properly anymore. Mel had saved the day by taking two cotton scarves and carefully knotting them together before wrapping them around Aqua's torso, tying them at the small of her back and the nape of her neck. One was blue, and the other white – the look actually quite suited her; it was pretty and functional, so she looked decent to be seen in public. She hadn't worn that thing for years, even before they had taken their exam; they used to go swimming at a lake near the castle as young teens – and of course since those days, she had grown considerably. To save his mind from wondering just how small the bikini itself beneath the makeshift top was on her, Terra meandered over to the edge of the island, and reached up to touch the star shaped fruit that hung there.

One fruit was incredibly ripe, and came away from the tree easily. It felt heavy, and soft like the skin of a peach, and it smelled mouth wateringly good.

"What's that?" Aqua asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"This is the fruit that represents an unbreakable connection, right?" he asked, leaning against the tree and holding it out so Aqua could take a look.

"I think Kairi said it's called the paopu fruit." She said, poking it curiously. "It looks a bit like a yellow peach,"

"This is _not_ in any way like a peach," he said teasingly, twisting the stem off the same way you did with an apple.

"I said _like_ a peach." She said coolly.

Terra smiled up at her innocently and she glared at him. He tried twisting one of the points of the star shaped fruit, and it came apart easily – it smelled wonderful. "Share with me?" he offered, hoping to placate her. As much as he enjoyed winding her up, he didn't want to make her mad. She had been desperate recently to keep things as normal as possible, and he was only too happy to comply. He'd given up on trying to wind her up and then calm her down by kissing her – the last time he tried she had all but thrown him down stairs with a promise that she'd flay him alive the next time he tried.

After what Ven referred to as her 'little episode' Aqua had become much calmer, but she seemed to find new things to worry about in place of the things she had already resolved. Keeping normalcy was one of them, and Terra was keen to keep things as light as possible. Hence the offering of food to keep her from mauling him.

Aqua gave him a suspicious look before she took the fruit and popped it into her mouth. She chewed for a moment and her eyes widened.

"What's it like?" He asked, twisting another point off the body of the fruit.

"Wonderful," she said dreamily, closing her eyes and savouring the taste.

Terra tried a piece for himself, and hummed his approval as Aqua reached for another piece, wiping the juice that was trickling down her chin. It was at once tangy and sweet, with a zesty overture and a pleasantly bitter after taste as he swallowed. The fruit was gone surprisingly fast, and they both gazed longingly at the others hanging just within reach at the end of the tree. All that was left of their shared fruit was the very centre, which he broke in half and handed the larger piece to Aqua.

"Gotta leave some for the other people, right?" Terra said, wondering if they could get away with eating two.

"We won't have room for Sora and Riku's barbeque," she reminded him, but it was clear she wouldn't mind having another one.

"I'll go check how the boys are getting on with that," he said, stuffing the last piece of fruit into his mouth and turning to leave. He met Sora and Riku on the wooden bridge, holding wood and light fuel, and Terra nearly tripped when he saw their expressions. Leo had wondered over on the sand and sat up, his head level with them as he stared curiously from one to the other. "What's up with you guys?"

Sora dropped the pile of wood in his hands and Riku sagged. A piece of wood rolled off the bridge and Leo ambled over to pick it up with his teeth.

"He didn't…?" Sora said weakly, wide eyed.

"He _did_." Riku breathed, just as stunned.

"What?" Terra demanded, his face heating up. He had decided to keep his black shirt on and swap his trousers for dark swimming trunks; in the heat of the sun he was regretting this choice of dark clothing.

"You shared a _paopu_ with her!" Sora said, waving his arms furiously, gazing at Terra with something like awe.

"So?" he stipulated, aware of the way Riku was looking at him.

"Don't you _know_?" Riku said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Know what? What's with you two?"

"If you share a paopu fruit with someone, your destinies are bound together forever." Sora explained, still wide eyed. It was sometimes unnerving how he was just like Ven.

"Throughout eternity." Riku added. "Its something couples do to show how much they love each other. If you share it with someone, you'll always be together no matter what."

Terra's face flushed as he realised the implications.

"So?" he said, trying to hide his blush.

"But you actually _did_ it!" Sora bounced on the balls of his feet, overly energetic for the occasion. "You actually did it with her! All the kids on the island talk about doing it, but they never have the guts to actually _do_ it!"

Riku broke from his awed revery to look at his friend, eyebrow raised. "Sexual connotation much?"

"I never said that!" Sora rounded on him, and Terra wanted to bail out of the conversation into the sea where he could hide. "I just meant-!"

Riku thrust the lighter fuel into his hands, and his face to shut Sora up, and then started picking up the fallen bits of wood. He took the one from Leo and looked up at Terra.

"Its just, we hear people going on about how they're gonna share a fruit with someone, but you're the first we've actually seen try."

Terra had assumed the fruit was an innocent thing, that just represented friendship and the plutonic love between friends and family. He had no idea it had romantic implications…and the way the two of them had reacted was rather unnerving. He let them frog march him back to the tree where they set down the barbeque tools in an area not too close to the trees. Aqua had her nose thankfully stuck in her book and didn't look up as Sora and Riku beat a hasty retreat, muttering to each other and shooting them both furtive looks.

"Hey, Terra," Aqua's voice broke through the haze in his mind, and he turned to her. "I might pick one and show Ven, I think he'd like it."

An irrational panic flooded through him and he slammed his hand down on her wrist as she tried to reach for another fruit.

"Hey!" she grappled with him as he clamped her hand to the tree trunk. "What's wrong with you?"

"You don't wanna do that," he said quickly, heart pounding.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why not? I thought he'd like to try it… what's _with_ you, Terra?"

His burning face had nothing to do with the sun, and he looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze.

"Terra?" a hand ran through his hair and he sighed, looking back up at her.

"Sora and Riku said…" he bit his lip and explained what they had told him about the paopu fruit, and Aqua's eyes widened in surprise. Then she smiled slyly at him and slid off the tree so she was stood squarely in front of him, hands on his shoulders. She was up to something…

"Oh, Terra!" she cooed running his fingers through his hair. "You're just _adorable_ when you're jealous!"

"Am not," he growled, his pride taking a blow as she stroked the tip of his nose with her finger. "Get off!"

Aqua giggled and took a step back before she started laughing. "You're so easy to wind up!"

"Oh yeah?" he grabbed her in a head lock and rubbed his knuckles into her scalp, something he reserved almost exclusively for Ven. "You like that?"

"Get off!" she punched him in the stomach and he let her go. She glowered as she smoothed her hair down. "So you didn't know?" she asked, calming down again.

Terra looked from her face – eyes unnaturally bright and shining – to the fruit innocently swaying in the breeze. "No."

She stepped forward again and put her arms around him, leaning up so their noses just touched. "And if you did know would you still have the guts to do it?"

He glowered at her. "You're a royal pain."

"And you keep coming back for more," she said teasingly, kissing the corner of his mouth. "So what does that make you?"

Terra leaned forward and kissed her before murmuring, "Masochistic." Her mouth still tasted of the paopu fruit, and he enjoyed the soft sigh she made as he slid his hands down her back, tickling the bare skin he found around the knotted scarves. Something was growing in him, since the day they had woken up on the floor together. It had started as a ploy to annoy her, as she would have been incredibly embarrassed (and had been when Ven woke up), but Terra found himself craving her physically more than ever before, ever since.

"Eww!" came a familiar voice, and they both broke apart with a sigh. "Stop trying to get in each others pants!"

"Ven!" Terra shouted angrily, but he needn't have bothered. Leo came crashing to the rescue and bowled him over before grabbing the back of his trunks with his teeth and striking out into deeper water, carrying Ven with him. He shrieked and twisted trying to get free, but it was no use. On the beach Sora and Kairi were on the ground laughing while Mel and Riku clung to each other for support.

After Leo dumped Ven in the sea and swam back to them, things calmed right down. They set up a deep ring of stones to keep the fire contained, and broke out the food they had brought along to cook; some burgers, sausages, and a cooking pot filled with chopped onions that Leo avoided like the plague. When Ven finally flopped onto the ground beside Terra, panting heavily and drenched in seawater, he put and arm around the younger man's neck and gave him a halfhearted scrape across his scalp.

"Too…much…ocean…" Ven groaned.

The grand master plan was the watch the last sunset of the year, and then to wake up early the following morning to see the first sunrise of the New Year, so they were camping out over night on the island. There was some party going on, on the mainland, but Sora said they didn't want to go, and hiding Leo would have been a nightmare. It sounded like the boy hosting the party and Riku absolutely despised each other, which was another reason they had opted to stay away.

Once the meat was cooked, they stuffed it into buns and dribbled cooked onions and slices of cheese over the top before devouring them with great gusto. Sora produced a box of beer he had managed to get hold of, and Aqua sternly demanded if they were legally allowed to drink. Rules varied between worlds, but that didn't stop her from clamping down on them.

"I can," Riku said brightly, taking a swig.

"You're allowed to _buy_ it," Kairi said primly as Sora gazed balefully at him.

"As long as it's with a meal they won't get _too_ drunk," Mel added helpfully. "And we have responsible adults supervising,"

"Who, _me_?" Terra asked with a laugh.

"_I_ think you're responsible."

"_I _don't…" Ven muttered darkly, and yelped when Aqua poked him in the ribs.

Terra took the beer Riku offered him, wondering what it would taste like. The paopu fruit had left an aftertaste in his mouth that seemed to distort the taste of everything he ate or drank that day – it was actually quite a pleasant distortion; everything tasted much richer and deeper than before. He caught Aqua taking a swig from a beer bottle, and she saw him watching; she looked at him innocently just before she hiccoughed, and everyone started laughing before Riku took the bottle from her.

"Someone's gotta stay sober and responsible," he said firmly.

"I want one!" Sora begged, crawling on his belly to reach the bottles he had brought. "Kairi, get off me!"

She had sat down on his back to slow his advance, and sat with her arms crossed and her nose in the air, grinning. "You need to learn self restraint!"

"I'm not a kid anymore! I just had a big meal! I'm not gonna get drunk!" he whined, sounding just like Ven.

As the sun began to set, turning the sky a wonderful array of reds and oranges, Leo crawled up alongside Mel, and dropped something from his mouth onto her lap. It was a paopu fruit, and Sora laughed before explaining to her the legend surrounding the fruit, sounding like a parrot as he repeated nearly word for word what he'd said to Terra. She pulled her wayfinder from her satchel and compared the two, wide eyed and wondering. Leo snorted and picked the fruit up again before brandishing it in her face, trying to say her name past the object in his mouth. Apparently, he had been listening closely to the boys earlier.

"What's he doing?" Riku asked.

Sora laughed and said, "Isn't it obvious? He wants to share it with her!"

"You and me then," she said gently, breaking a segment off and putting it in her mouth. "We'll never get rid of each other after this, you know."

Leo didn't seem to mind in the least, and gobbled up half of the fruit in one go.

"Just don't expect any dates to the cinema," she told him, her words and wagging finger at odds with her peaceful expression and soft tone of her voice.

"Can you even do that? Share a paopu with a dragon?" Sora asked no one in particular, before turning to Riku with an expectant look.

"How should _I_ know?" Riku demanded, irked.

"You're always going on about how you know _everything_ there is to know in the universe," he said snidely, and rolled out of the way as Riku threw his keyblade at him.

"Knock it off…" Aqua sighed loudly.

The sky turned from red to deep blue and purple, before fading into a starry blanket. They curled up under some blankets in a huddle, circled by Leo's long body and sheltered from any biting insects by his wings. They slept on the large, framed wooden platform raised above the water over looking the pier, because it was just about big enough to accommodate Leo's massive bulk. Sora shook them all awake at an ungodly hour and dragged them to the other side of the island, still in the darkness of the night.

It wasn't natural for someone to have so much energy this early – Terra could have sworn Sora was channelling some otherworldly energy to stay so lively at this hour. He passed around some bread rolls with cold ham and cheese, and Ven perked up once he had eaten so the two of them got on Terra's nerves. He managed to tolerate it, however, remembering a simpler time when they were younger.

On the beach of the sheltered cove, they sat on the sand and waited in companionable silence as the sky began to lighten along the horizon. Ven was splayed out on his stomach, Mel sat beside him; she sagged from all the excitement and ended up resting her head on top of his, and he endured it amiably despite Terra's snickers. No way he was letting Ven get off lightly, not when he kept accusing Terra of trying to make mad and passionate love to Aqua in public. He was going to pay dearly for the repeated humiliations…

Sora was sat with his friends either side; an arm around Kairi's waist while his other arm was draped around Riku's shoulders. The older boy reached around Sora with his arm and placed his hand on Kairi's shoulder. Her free hand that wasn't hugging Sora was place on top of it.

Terra was leaning back on his hands behind him, legs crossed with Aqua sat on his lap, leaning forward towards greet the as it slid slowly into the sky. In that one moment, as the great orange disc appeared, painting the sky an array of soft pinks, Terra felt completely calm and tranquil – for the first time in a long while.

"Happy New Year!" Sora crowed, punching the air with his fist.

"May it be bright and shiny." Mel added.

"Say, Riku," Sora said suddenly, turning to him. "If stars are the light from the hearts of other worlds, what's the sun?"

Riku blinked. "A big ball of burning gas?"

"The world's warrior energy?" Ven slipped in, laughing when Mel flicked his ear.

Aqua exhaled heavily, catching Terra's attention. He sat up straight and leant his chin over her shoulder so he could see her face. "What's up?"

Her lips twisted downwards in an expression he didn't like. "I feel like…a storm's gathering." She said slowly, frowning at the five of them as Leo trundled up and down the beach, nosing at some coconuts on the ground, as he was bored of watching the sky now. "Like this is just the calm before it breaks."

Terra tested the air around him. It didn't tense; it was impossible on this island. But, all the same…he had a sinking feeling she was right. He pulled his Wayfinder from his pocket and held it up to the light of the new day, the new year. She pulled out her own, and he noticed that Ven and Mel were holding theirs. Sora and Riku had their own, made from seashells that Kairi had made for them. Leo settled down beside Ven, lifting a clawed paw to the black star on his collar, humming loudly.

"We're ready," Terra said decisively. "Whatever happens."

He wasn't about to let anything tear him away from his friends again.

XOXOX


	9. Shock Horror

**AN: hey guys! :D considering the trouble I had with the last chapter, this was actually pretty easy to write even if I got choked up a couple of times in the more intense moments…. xD**

**If you'd like to share your thoughts/any tips or suggestions please leave me a review and let me know what you think :) any feedback is greatly appreciated!**

**EDIT: it was drawn to my attention a few grammatical errors/mistypes in my writing for this chapter, so when I went back and took a look I was mildly horrified by the gaps in my proof reading net xD so I went through it again with a fine toothed comb and edited the mistakes… ;)**

_**Shock Horror**_

Pete shuffled forward into the dark atrium of the castle, wondering how best to relay his news. She was certainly not going to be pleased that the Keyblade Brat had flounced them yet again, but still – the news from the heartless scouts would probably mollify her enough to ensure his safety. Nevertheless, their plans to take Halloween Town had been ruined, and she wouldn't let it slide so easily. He had great cause for concern.

"And _what_ exactly are you doing here this time?" Maleficent said coldly, not deigning to look over her shoulder from her position by the window.

"D'uh…" Pete swallowed. "I've got some news for ya,"

"Then spit it out." She retorted frigidly. "You had better not have failed me again."

"Well, uh- see, that's the thing…" he blanched when she turned with a sweep of her long dark robes and fixed him with a poisonous stare, her mantled headdress casting a livid shadow on the floor from the weak sun light pouring through the windows. "I have some good news too!" he insisted, cringing as he waited for the first blow.

Maleficent turned from him in disgust and murmured, "Why do I even bother with such an insignificant…?"

"Hey, it's not all bad!" Pete said desperately, waving his hands at her that he knew she could see from the corner of her slitted eyes. "The scouts came back with some good recon information!"

"And will it make up for your most recent blunder?"

"Maybe," he wasn't entirely certain himself; he hardly dare believe what he had been told. "They say there's a particular dragon that's been followin' Sora and his friends around. Seems it belongs to those other Keyblade wielders what got done by Master Xehanort way back when. They moved back to their own world and spruced up real nice." He hastened to add at the withering look he received, "And there's more! The heartless are saying this dragon has something to do with the Keyblade! Don't quite know what it is myself, but it seems right, seein' as it follows them everywhere and never goes far. And the fact that it's owned by the only other Keyblade Master…"

Maleficent was silent while she pondered his words, and Pete held his breath. Finally, she said, "Intriguing…" she walked slowly to the table at the centre of the room and waved a hand over the surface. A luridly coloured image appeared, picking out the greens and yellows most, and giving everything a diseased look.

A huge, black dragon covered in a fine coat of feathers was walking along at a steady pace. Beside him was a tall man with dark coloured clothes and a metal arm guard attached to his shoulder; on its back was a petite teen with long blonde hair attached to the saddle by some sort of harness, and she was stood up with one foot braced against the dragon's neck. Behind her sat a young blonde man with a similar set of armour, and behind him lounging at his ease, using his hands for a pillow, was Sora.

"Interesting…A _Keyblade_ Dragon…?" Maleficent said to herself.

They both watched in silence as the girl leaned with the motion of the dragon's gait, and talked silently to the man on the ground, laughing at something the one behind her said, while Sora swayed from side to side, a silly little grin on his face, eyes closed and lips moving as if her were singing something. He slid off the dragons back down his tail when the blonde man aimed a punch at him, and proceeded to run circles around the dragon so it halted to prevent accidentally stamping on him. The dragon lowered its head from its great height so it was level with Sora's face, and exhaled judging by the way Sora's hair fluttered momentarily. It pressed its great muzzle against his face before it continued walking, and then Sora was joined by two more people; his friend the traitor Riku, and a slender blue haired woman who the dragon began licking and rubbing against, for all the world like a gigantic feathered house cat.

"You know what needs to be done…?" Maleficent said, looking upon the loving scene with contempt.

"Err…"

"Bring me that dragon, you idiot!"

XOXOX

"Here!"

"Catch this!"

"Sora, over here!"

"Hey! I'm wide open!"

"Incoming, Riku!"

"Check this out, kiddies!" Lea ran into the middle of the hall and created a whirlwind of fire that made everyone – including Leo – dive out of the way. The golden orb they were fighting for went flying into the air high above their heads and Terra and Ven made a mad dash to claim it.

The whole thing had started when Riku demonstrated his growing powers in the magical arts, and created a large glowing sphere of golden light about the size of a volleyball. Mel had looked at it wonderingly before tapping its surface with the tip of her finger, and the surface had started emitting silent showers of glittering sparks, starting golden and bronze and tapering away to every colour of the rainbow as they floated into the air away from the orb. Leo had been riveted with it, and when Riku threw the ball to Sora, he scrambled after it. It began as a game for him, to chase the ball, and then Lea had whacked it hard with his keyblade, and it suddenly became an exercise. A really, _really_ fun exercise, but a training nonetheless.

Mel was strapped into Leo's saddle, standing on her feet and doing more balancing than actual hitting, but it was still a good workout for her. She and Terra were working on mounted combat, and this was the perfect way to improve her balance if nothing else. Everyone was practising strikes and speed, as well as evasion and agility as a several tonne almost-juvenile dragon flitted past. He had suddenly grown incredibly light on his feet, and rather than crashing through them and wreaking havoc as he had once done, he practically danced through their midst, using his long thick tail to unbalance anyone who wasn't watching their footwork and purposefully trying to trip Lea up at every possible opportunity. He was sleek and agile, and Aqua was secretly glad he was on their side; she didn't like to think about what it would be like to have Leo bearing down on her intent on inflicting grievous bodily harm. He was growing into his strength, and his mind was shifting to a more analytical approach, rather than playful and mischievous.

Light and Gods above help them…

As they ploughed through the drill, laughing as they went, Aqua watched with motherly fondness as she took a step back to take a breather from the fray. Ven and Terra were still trying to trip each other up, and when they seemed more intent on fighting each other than staying on their toes in the game, Leo whipped them both over with a powerful stroke of his tail and roared at them to get back to the heart of the matter – Keyblade Tennis. It seemed he had internalised Aqua's disciplinarian attitude when it came to the boys – she smiled at the thought. Mel was still hanging in there, and hadn't fallen from her perch on his shoulders for the last ten minutes, and rather than fight for the orb she chose to use her weapons to counter balance her movement, missing an easy swipe as the ball sailed past her nose.

With the New Year had come a few subtle changes; subtle, but prominent in their own ways. Master Yen Sid had presented her with a metal breastplate; similar to the one Master Eraqus had worn, but cunningly different and wrought to fit and suit _her_ – as their Master. She was wearing it today, to get a feel for fighting in it, though she didn't always wear it as she felt she was still their friend and sister first and forever foremost. Still, she couldn't help but feel a childish sense of glee as she ran her hand across the blue and silvered metal, wondering if her own master had felt this elated when he first donned his own.

Mel had also received armour, and she had altered her wardrobe so that she looked the part of a Keyblade Wielder now more than ever. The shy, skittish girl that had appeared to them was all but gone. In her stead was a quiet, confident young woman whose presence unassumingly commanded an equally quiet but powerful respect of those around her. Yen Sid had given her two pieces of armour, one that covered most of her left arm to just above the elbow, and fitted neatly around the cuffs of her fingerless gloves; it was made of interlocking metal plates like scales that allowed her arm to move freely, etched with a design of Celtic leaves around the edges of the plates. Another piece of metal attached to the top stood up about an inch away from her arm and curved upward to level with the top of her shoulder, leaning away from her arm slightly so it didn't actually touch her; the Mark of Mastery symbol etched into its face, and the metal plaque itself was shaped vaguely like a knight's shield. The other piece of armour was a guarded plate similar to the ones Terra and Ven wore, which was strapped to her right shoulder over the top of her new shirt, and fashioned after the shape of a maple leaf. She still wore her purple tie-dye tank top, with a crisscrossed set of straps across her chest much like those Aqua and the others wore, with the badge of her Master clasped in the middle; over this she had placed a deep green button down shirt which lay open, and had stripes of a darker hue running vertically down it. On the back of this shirt she had fashioned a large stylised heart out of grey and silver fabrics. She had also adopted Sora's style of attaching pockets; two pouches made from soft, light grey felt were strapped to her thighs with deep purple belts, and she carried a selection of crystals and totem objects in the left one while storing potions and ethers in the one on the right.

Mel also managed to find a broach depicting a dragon, which she had carefully edited to more closely resemble Leo and attached to a white belt that she wore around her waist. From this she hung her wayfinder, tucked out of the way underneath her green shirt if she wanted to hide it from sight. After she had received her new armour, Leo had started shedding some of his older feathers, and she had taken some of them and worked them into a braid of leather strips on which she strung wooden, crystal and stone beads of every colour, before working the feathers into the ends of the braids. The three braids of varying length were attached to the inside of the shoulder guard, so they hung underneath it down against her arm, with the sleeve rolled up to her elbow. It was a very shamanic look, but it also tied in with the legend of the Keyblade Dragon – she looked like a mythic hero of yore – until someone startled her from her day dream, and then she was yet again that awkward young woman still trying to find her feet. It seemed that part of her wouldn't be changing anytime soon. After Aqua had convinced her to stop hiding behind a curtain of hair, she had started doing French plaits, one of either side of her head, the one on the left larger than the right, that met at the back and became a single braid that trailed down her back over a cascade of dark gold ringlets. She still had two sections of hair loose from the braids at the front, but they were tucked behind her ears and held there with a series of hairgrips. She had also broken out some old earrings from a jewellery box she owned, and her ears actually had a surprising number of piercings; two in her left lobe, three in the right, and a further four along the tops of each ear, followed by the part of the ear that Aqua was fairly certain was called the tragus in her left ear. They were simple studs with small fake jewels made of coloured glass, for the chakras, and a few small silver and gold hoops evenly space out. Of all the changes to her appearance, however, the ones made to her hair were the most striking of all, because now her face was clearly visible, and her curiously light absorbing and reflecting eyes all the more conspicuous for it.

And Mel wasn't the only one; Leo had been given a badge of his own to wear on his thick leather collar, pride of place in the centre at the front to mark him as theirs, and they had attached his wayfinder directly on to the leather so it was to one side, where he could still see it and it wouldn't get in his way or easily damaged during fights. From the Committee in Radiant Garden, he had received a set of greaves for his legs to wear independently of his full armour, and he had taken the wearing them when they went out scouting. They matched Mel's armour, silver and purple, with fire like tendrils carved into the surface and traced with vibrant colour. Riku had made a sort of bracelet that laid flush to the skin on his tail, made with sturdy leather and tooled with designs that recalled Destiny Island, and the infamous paopu fruit.

They looked like a match made in heaven for each other, and though Leo was loving and affectionate to all the wielders of the Keyblade, it was perfectly clear where his allegiance lay – with Mel. Until death do they part; Sora had pretended to hold a marriage ceremony for them after Leo had forced Mel to share the paopu with him.

Aqua decided as her musings came to an end that she had sufficiently caught her breath, and barrelled back into the fray, keyblade in hand and a grin on her lips. They continued as the were, each taking a turn to step out of the whirlwind of chaos in the centre of the hall and catch their breath before jumping straight back in.

It took a while for Aqua to notice they had guests in the form of Donald and Goofy, waiting for her to become aware of them at the end of the great hall. She ducked under Leo's tail and side stepped around Sora.

"Keep at it, you're all doing great. I'll be right back,"

Kairi was sagging against the wall, breathing heavily and nursing a few bruises, but grinned at Aqua as she walked past. Ven flew by sporting a black eye, followed closely by Terra, whose lips had been split and trailed blood all down his chin, grinning manically as he hunted Ven down. As Aqua left them behind she heard a yelp and turned to see Mel hanging upside down in her harness as Leo belted past them all, grabbing the orb in his mouth to stop anyone else from playing with it.

"Aww, c'mon!" Sora whined.

"Give it back!" Ven yelled before Terra tackled him to the ground.

"Get that excuse of a feather duster under control," Lea demanded playfully as Mel struggled to right herself.

"Umm…._help_?" she pleaded, her foot caught in one of the straps as she flailed helplessly around like a worm on a hook.

Leo sat back and raised his head proudly, eyes closed and the picture of victory right before Riku knocked the orb out of his mouth. He roared and smacked the boy round the back of the head with his paw and got a face full of keyblade for his troubles while Mel slowly got more tangled. The last Aqua saw was Terra and Ven running to her rescue before she turned her back on them to address Donald and Goofy.

"Hello! You caught us in the middle of an exercise,"

"Gawrsh, I hope we're not interuptin' ya!" Goofy said.

"No, its fine." She waved it away. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," he looked over his shoulder, and she noticed two people for the first time, standing in the shadows of the stairwell. They were garbed in Black Cloaks; one was tall and slender, but bent over slightly with hunched shoulders, and the other slightly shorter with a stockier build. "We found these two fellas in another world being attacked by the heartless."

Donald interrupted his with his curious hissing exclamation and took command of the conversation. "We couldn't just leave them there, and we thought we should bring them somewhere safe until we can take them back to their home."

"Yup!" Goofy nodded amiably. "They got lost from their home world, and ended up not far from here. I hope you don't mind us bringin'em here,"

"No, its fine, really." Aqua insisted, and she smiled at the two Black Coats. If they tried to cause any trouble herself and her friends would be more than a match for them. And she didn't feel anything malign coming off them, either. The stocky one had an odd feeling to them, but it wasn't threatening.

"Okay fellas!" Goofy turned to them, and they hefted their large rucksacks off the floor and onto their backs. "Master Aqua here will take care of ya for now. We gotta get going back on patrol, so you stay here until we can come and get you and take you home, okay?"

"Yes," the shorter figure said with an accent that vaguely resembled Mel's, but was subtly different, and it was a male voice. "Thank you very much, you've been most kind."

"Let's get going!" Donald said, looking a bit concerned.

"Can you two handle it by yourselves?" Aqua asked. "I could send some of the guys to go with you…"

"We'll be okay! Just tell Sora we stopped by but couldn't stay," Goofy said, turning to look at the rabble at the centre of the hall. "Gawrsh, sure looks like fun!"

"Sora's been working to hard recently." Donald said with finality. "He'll burn himself out if he keeps chasing the heartless like this!"

"He'll burn himself out practising." Aqua said, amused. "Or Riku will burn him out first…"

The two of them left hastily, and Aqua turned to the new comers. They still had their hoods up, but the stocky one stepped forward into the light cast from the high windows and reached up to remove his. He had a pale, high cheek boned face with dark green eyes and a tangle of jet-black hair that haloed his head like a spray of ink. His expression was deep, but guarded; he clearly didn't feel relaxed enough to let it down, and given the scene behind her Aqua couldn't blame him.

"Master…Aqua, was it?" he asked politely, the vowels sounding odd on his tongue.

"Just Aqua. What's your name?"

"I'm Tomasa. This is my cousin, Kyo." He motioned to the figure behind him, who gave her an awkward bow.

"Nice to meet you," she returned the gesture. "You'll have to forgive my students, they are a bit excitable today…" she shook her head as she heard the sound of laughter and the clash of blades. They seemed to have outgrown their sparkly toy now…

"I hope we aren't putting you to any trouble, ma'am." Tomasa bowed his head, eyes lowered respectfully.

"Not at all!" Aqua insisted, wondering where she was going to house them tonight. She supposed she could smile sweetly and ask the others to go home temporarily, and get Ven and Terra to bunk together in the mean time. "So how did you come to leave home?" she asked.

Tomasa's eyes were closely guarded, but she could still see an old grief swimming beneath the opaque surface.

"We're looking for someone." Was all he said.

Aqua spun round as the fight came closer towards them, and Tomasa and Kyo took a step back. Ven and Terra were tussling with each other, swearing and cursing as they went while Sora and Riku cheered them on. Mel dashed into the middle of it and managed to deflect several attacks before Terra sent her sprawling on her back, skidding across the floor. She sat up not far from where Aqua stood, smiling tiredly as they laughed with her.

"You're getting better!" Terra called approvingly.

"Nice guard technique!" Sora praised her.

"Well done!" Ven laughed, reaching out a hand and helping her to her feet.

"My footwork needs brushing up," she said, straightening her clothes and shaking her armoured left arm to check for damage.

Aqua saw Tomasa frowning at Mel for a moment, and then realisation seemed to dawn on him as Riku proceeded to clap her on the shoulder after she was back on her feet and said, "Nice one Mel!"

"So, who're these guys?" Ven asked, staring at the new comers.

There was a deadly quiet as Mel turned round and her eyes met Tomasa's, and their jaws simultaneously dropped. She stilled completely, and blinked in the bright light from the windows, as if she didn't quite believe what she saw. Then, she took half a step forward in the pressing silence as all eyes were drawn to her. She mouth moved, but no sound came – eventually she managed to gasp, "_Tom_? Is that…?" her gaze then slid to the figure next to him, who was trembling.

Then, without warning the taller boy flung himself forward at her, a howl escaping his lips before Tomasa could grab the back of his coat. He pelted forward towards Mel, arms outstretched, and Terra and Ven tensed for a fight, but Mel was rushing to meet them.

"MEL!"

He flung himself into her arms and sobbed loudly, and she clung to him desperately, reaching up to pull the hood away from his face. A young man with a mop of red and copper hair, as tangled as Tomasa's, with a smattering of freckles across his heart shaped face cried into her shoulder, his eyes screwed tightly shut.

"Kyo…" Mel's own face filled with tears, but her smile was warm and happy. "Oh God, you're all right…!"

Tomasa walked numbly to their side as Kyo sank to his knees, dragging Mel with him. He stood over them for a moment before he crouched down and enveloped them both with a hug.

"Tom!"

"Oh God…" he gasped burying his face in her hair. "I thought we'd never see you again!"

"I'm sorry Mel!" Kyo sobbed, and he pulled back enough so that she could look him in the face, stroking his cheeks and hair, smoothing his unruly fringe back and just drinking in the sight of him. His eyes were red with tears, but the were they same vivid green as her own, even from this distance.

It reminded Aqua forcefully of when she had seen Terra and Ven again, after so long. Despite the bitterness that underlined the memory, Aqua felt a warmth in the pit of her stomach as she watched the scene unfold.

"What on earth for?" she demanded, suddenly looking almost stern.

"I missed you so much!" he smothered her in his embrace, weeping uncontrollably. He was just like a child, the way he was crying – that sweet innocence that became slowly tainted by time and experience. "So, so much…"

XOXOX

Shocked didn't even _begin_ to cover it. Terra was positively gob smacked; when the three of them had calmed down and tidied themselves up, it was clear there was a strong family resemblance. After he got over the initial disbelief, Terra started to wonder if something fishy was going on with fate. The fact that Mel had been brought to them, with a dragon egg in her gear, was odd enough. The fact her brother and cousin had also appeared before them was a bit much for coincidence.

Sora and the others went home to give them more room and some time to figure out what to do next. Ven volunteered his room for them to use, staying in Terra's room instead, and Aqua once again put training on hold.

Tomasa was an odd character, and Terra found him disconcertingly hard to figure out. Mel was quiet, but her eyes were incredibly expressive, and even though her tone of voice was only ever a slight variation of a soft but strong timbre, it was very easy to figure out what she was feeling. Kyo was a lot like Ven, only less able to contain his emotions, and he had several temper tantrums that Mel handled with relative ease, so Tomasa didn't have to get involved though he wandered around in the background looking exasperated. Compared to his two cousins, he was _very_ hard to suss out; he had a way of titling his head down slightly, so he was constantly having to look up to meet your eyes, and he remained very guarded with his gaze. He seemed to have a dry sense of humour, when he was joking with the two of them, and tried on a low and subtle level to wind them up, but Kyo just retorted with silly and careless remarks, and it all just slid off Mel like water from a duck's back. He also stated firmly he wanted to be referred to as _Tomasa_, even though the other two went on calling him Tom; he didn't like it when Ven tried to use his nickname.

Once Tomasa and Kyo had put their bags away in Ven's room and removed their Black Coats, Tomasa revealed himself to be wearing a pair of very faded blue jeans, and a layered shirt with mid-grey long sleeves and a black short-sleeved shirt over the top. He wore a dirty silver chain around his neck, with a similar pendant to Mel's, only this was a green and red hummingbird. Kyo was wearing a pair of jeans that had ripped in the right knee, and he had a very baggy red plaid shirt that made him look comically like a lumberjack. Kyo also had a pair of busted up glasses that he wore when he was reading, kept in a scuffed black case that had been painted with wave like patterns in tipex. He also bore a necklace; a red and pink salmon with a hooked nose, twisted into a ring around a circle in the middle that seemed to represent an egg.

Kyo was much more open and friendly than his cousin; he soon got over the shock of finding his long lost sister, and started following her around the way Ven had done when he first came to live with them, wide eyed and ever questioning of anything and everything, especially about Leo with whom he had made an instant connection; the dragon was all over him, especially when Kyo gave him extra food at the table. It may have been this similarity with Ven, or the way he was like Mel and very expressive with his eyes and mouth, but Terra felt instantly fond of him. Ven explained in an undertone that Mel had told him her brother was a bit 'traumatised' by something that had happened years ago, and that he had the mental age of someone nearly half his actual age. He was in truth about twenty, but he had the emotional age of about eleven. That would certainly explain his emotional outbursts, and how he quickly forgot about them five minutes later when something new happened.

That evening, they gathered in the common room, and when Mel elected to go make some drinks Tomasa followed her while they left Kyo on the floor with Ven playing dominos. Ven prided himself on his skills in this game, but he was finding it surprisingly difficult to stay ahead, and he eventually was over taken before suffering his worst defeat in years. While Ven shrugged it off and Aqua and Leo laughed at him, Kyo sat cross-legged and smiling innocently, and Terra went to give Mel a hand. He paused at the door to the kitchen as he heard voices raised in exasperation.

"…I just don't see why you're encouraging him, that's all."

"Tom, he's just curious. Have _you_ ever seen a dragon before?"

"No." he admitted, sounding annoyed. "But you don't have to humour Kyo, he needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut."

"It's not like asking questions is doing any harm. And Leo doesn't mind,"

"What, that Kyo's all over him? C'mon, Mels. He needs to grow up,"

There was a long pause, and Terra could imagine the look on Mel's face. "Why should he?"

"Because!" he said, exasperated. "He's twenty! He's an adult; he needs to start acting like one. I had him almost there, and that dragon of yours-"

"Does it really matter? Kyo's always been like that, that's just who he is."

"Yeah, maybe. But everyone changes. You certainly have," he said almost accusingly.

"I'd be very surprised if you didn't change over the course of eleven years," she said quietly, an unfamiliar edge to her voice.

Terra chose that moment to enter the room, and found them both stood facing each other squarely on; Tomasa relaxed and unclenched his fists, turning round to greet him politely. Mel took a bit longer to unwind, her shoulders set at a stubborn angle and her eyes somewhat troubled.

"Need a hand?" Terra asked nonchalantly.

"We're fine, thank you." Tomasa said respectfully.

Terra felt a bit uneasy, but Mel betrayed nothing as she piled the mugs onto a tray. He took it from her and they went back into the common room where Leo was watching Kyo intently. Ven had given up on trying to win against him, so he was setting them up in a long line to knock over.

Leo raised his head, and leaned forward so he was staring right into Kyo's eyes. He then opened his mouth and said, "Kyohh."

Kyo yelped, jumped back and tripped over Ven's legs, landing squarely on his backside and scrabbling away from him, eyes wide.

"He can _talk_!"

"Of course he can!" Ven laughed as Mel stepped over and scratched him under his chin where his new plumage was practically blooming. "Hey Leo, what's my name?"

"Ehhntuss,"

"Whoa!" Kyo forgot his alarm in a heart beat and was on his feet again, standing right up close to Leo. "He can talk!"

"What are you, a parrot?" Tomasa mocked gently, but he was smiling nonetheless, albeit with a measure of exasperation.

"But isn't your name _Ventus_?" Kyo asked as Leo turned his head to look at Mel and utter her name as well. "And _she's_ called _Mel_."

"He can't talk like us," Mel explained, and she stuck her tongue out down her chin at Leo, who complied by opening his mouth wide. "See? His jaw's a completely different shape to ours, so he can't make all of the right sounds. But what he can say we do understand,"

"Can he say Tom?" Kyo asked, excited.

Leo cocked his head to one said and fixed Tomasa with a steely gaze before he tried it out. He got as far as 'Tohh-asssahh' being unable to make the 'M' sound, and Mel flicked Kyo's ear when he said, "Sounds like he's trying to say tosser…"

"Yes thank you for that." She said and he grinned sheepishly. And that was all the reprimand he needed.

As the evening wore on Terra decided that Tomasa must be a strict, hard taskmaster, judging by the way Kyo kept gravitating away from him, especially when he tried to lecture him on his behaviour. It seemed Mel would have the final word, for whatever reason (possibly because she slid it in there before her cousin could open his mouth) and Kyo was much happier to follow her instructions. Tomasa rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway as Ven showed Kyo how they rubbed the oil into Leo's feathers to help them stay waterproof.

Leo had started the habit grooming himself, which meant they had to bathe him less often – after he had outgrown Mel's room he had outgrown the bathroom too, so they had gouged a hole in the floor next door to his own room to serve as a bathing pool. He groomed himself by using his teeth to comb through his feathers, and he had also gained the habit of grooming the others too.

"Umm…" Tomasa frowned as he pointed at Mel. "You do realise he's trying to eat you, right?"

"Oh, this is just social grooming." She said, scratching his neck and Leo hummed loudly, working his way through her long hair.

"Just like the gorillas!" Kyo enthused, and he told them all about a world they had been too where there were gorillas who had done the same thing to each other and to them.

Tomasa rolled his eyes and sighed, but a smile quirked his lips. Terra wasn't entirely sure what to make of him still; the other two were so easy going and opened up quite readily, but he was still hanging on the edges of the group, eyes guarded and attitude suggesting he wasn't entirely impressed with the proceedings.

"Lighten up!" Kyo whined at him eventually. "We found Mel! Just like you always said we would! Would it kill you to be more happy about it? You haven't shut up about it for years!"

At first it seemed Tomasa would get angry, but he burst out laughing, and the true resemblance between them showed through at last. "I would bask in the glory of this moment if your massive head wasn't in the way!"

Kyo grinned. "I'm the tallest!" he rushed over to Mel and put his arms around her waist before lifting her off the floor. "You used to be taller than me, but you're so _tiny_ now!"

"I haven't grown since I was seventeen." She said with a smile. "Did Tom feed you genetically modified tomatoes or something?"

It sounded like an inside joke, because the two boys laughed loudly and they started talking about all sorts of weird and wonderful things, all along similar lines, gently abusing each other as if they had never been parted.

The following morning Terra stumbled into the kitchen to find Mel making poached eggs, Kyo perched on the counter top and grinning.

"Morning!"

"G'morning…" Terra yawned.

"You look sleepy," he commented, still grinning.

"Ven kept me up all night," Terra grumbled. First it was the snoring, then it was the nightmares – at first Terra thought it was about all that had happened to them, but it turned out to be something stupid like killer mushrooms and an exploding volcano… Ven had only shut up when Terra offered to help him sleep well through the medium of his lamp connecting sharply with the back of his head.

"Tom's still fast asleep." Kyo informed him. "But Mel got up early, didn't you Mel?"

"Only because the roar of your stomach was louder than your snores."

"Can I have some?" Terra begged, the tempting smell of egg too good to miss out on.

Aqua called for a lazy day, and because the sun was actually shining for once Kyo dragged Mel outside to see the castle grounds. Ven and Terra followed, and so did Aqua and Tomasa; Leo trundled along as well, pausing to stretch and scratch his claws on the gummi posts dotted around. Kyo wanted to see Ven's keyblade, and he showed him, and then begged for a demonstration, to which the two bearers complied. Kyo thought it was brilliant that Mel had friends like them, who wielded the weapon, and he thought it was funny that she could summon two and no one else could.

"Grandpa always said she was special." He said, nodding sagely as if trying to impersonate someone.

"Touched in the head," Mel said, tapping her temple. "Sound's more like it."

Kyo took one of her blades and danced away, brandishing it with a laugh. Before he had taken more than three long steps it had disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in her hand.

"I'm not special enough for it, am I?" his attitude was by no means dampened by this.

"It just means you're special at something else," Ven told him, grinning just as broadly.

"I'm really good with numbers!" Kyo leapt on the subject with great fervour, and they started talking about various mathematical equations and principles while Mel slowly put her hands over her ears and sank to the ground.

"The pain…" she murmured, eyes closed and her expression still calm. "The maths…my poor brain…"

Kyo started quoting the digits for the square root of pie, and she collapsed to one side in a heap. Leo scuttled over to sniff at as the two of them laughed, and left her after ascertaining she was doing it for attention.

"Stop torturing her," Aqua called to them, and Mel bounced to her feet as Ven grinned evilly and dived at her with his keyblade. "FOOTWORK VENTUS!" she fairly shouted at him as they started sparring.

Terra laughed, and he heard Tomasa chuckle beside him. The younger man sat down on a low wall nearby, and Terra followed suit.

"It's really weird," he said at last. "She looks so different, and yet…she's hardly changed at all."

"I think she has," Terra put in, watching as she nearly managed to get through Ven's guard to smack him in the face with the butt of her chakra keyblade, only just missing as he deflected it at the last moment. "Certainly since she first arrived here,"

"I don't mean on the surface." Tomasa said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small photo album, just big enough for one picture per page. "She's still pretty out of it a lot of the time." He smiled fondly at her as she and Ven wrestled to the ground. "Always with her head in the clouds."

"Deep thinker." Terra bristled on her behalf.

"Look," Tomasa showed him a picture in the album, and Terra did a double take.

Sat on the steps outside a large town hall was a smiling man with tanned skin, white hair, and bright green eyes; his face was lined with wrinkles that deepened as he smiled, and he had his arms around two young children with another stood behind him. They could only be Tomasa, Kyo and Mel, but the difference in her was the most striking. She was still small, but skinny as opposed to slender, and her hair was almost white blonde – it was pulled back in a half-up-half-down style with a fringe sweeping across her forehead and down the side of her face. She was looking up at the sky somewhere to the right of the camera, wide eyed and wondering – an expression that Terra knew very well by now.

"Complete air head." Tomasa said fondly.

Terra wanted to say something to defend her, but he wasn't sure what to say. Clearly, Tomasa hadn't registered in his mind who Mel was now; sure, it was a long time since they had seen each other, but it was almost like he didn't _want_ to see. In four short months Terra had seen a great change in her – surely her own cousin could see a change after eleven years?

"I'd like to thank you," Tomasa said suddenly, flicking through more pages, showing in succession the three of them at a rock pool with a waterfall in the background, just her and Tomasa on a small scale train, and Mel stood with her arms outstretched, keyblades in hand and grinning while Kyo was draped over her shoulder, standing on a box behind her to reach with Tomasa sat on the ground by her feet, eyebrow arched and lips twitched into a smile. "For taking care of her."

"Welcome." Terra blinked at the change in direction of the conversation. "She's been fun to hang round with."

"You know, I'd almost given up hope of ever finding her again." He admitted, watching Kyo bounce with glee as Mel managed to disarm Ven with a particularly powerful strike. "A couple more weeks and I was thinking of taking Kyo home. I know I complain about him a lot, but it's not the right life for someone like him, constantly on the move. He really needs to stay at home where he's in a stable environment. You've probably guessed there's something wrong with him."

Terra chuckled. "I know a couple of guys like him – hyper."

"Yeah, but he's a bit wrong in the head, if you know what I mean. Mel's dad's a bit of a douche bag, and, well…" he looked down at his feet. "Let's just say Kyo was mostly normal before hand, and our grandfather promised to kill him if he ever came back."

Terra frowned – Mel hadn't told him directly what had happened to her family, and he only knew a tiny portion of what Ven had been told by her. It was really Mel's place to decide when she wanted them to know about it, not Tomasa's.

"Still, we never saw him again, which was a blessed relief. Even after Mel left." He looked frustrated by something only he could see. "I just wish I knew _why_ she never came back."

"I think you'd have to ask her yourself," Terra said carefully. He didn't want to dislike her cousin off hand, but he made it difficult for Terra to especially _like_ him.

"She needs to be dragged backwards through bush before she'll tell you anything. But for all that she's stubborn, she's pretty placid and easy going – practically nothing riles her up." Tomasa said conversationally. It didn't sound altogether light and teasing… "But still, we have her back now. That's all that matters." Terra hoped he was just imagining the possessive edge to his tone. "I just hope she doesn't undo all the work I've done with Kyo. He's far more talkative now – and he's not watching what he's saying. She was always too soft with him, too indulgent."

"I think she's brilliant with him." Terra said coolly, unable to keep his irritation from flaring but managing to stop it from forming into outright anger.

"I'm sorry," Tomasa said, turning slowly to meet his gaze, his oddly opaque eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "But you don't understand our family, and I'd thank you to keep out of it. It doesn't really concern you."

Terra stared him down, feeling torn. Of course, on the one level Tomasa was right – he'd be pretty annoyed if someone tried to pry into his relationship with Ven and Aqua, and make comments on them, especially Ven when he had been in a less than able state to function properly. But then again, he felt Mel was sufficiently lodged into their lives that he could extend the same treatment to her, and he bridled at the thought of someone who hadn't seen her in years making these assumptions he felt were wholly inaccurate.

"What's wrong?"

They both broke away from the tense stare to look at Kyo, who was looking from one to the other, biting his lip. "You're not fighting are you?"

"No Kyo, I'm just putting a message across. Come on, I'm getting hungry," he stood up and strode along the path back to the castle, following Aqua and Mel who were already almost there.

"I'm sorry." Kyo said in a small voice, looking up at Terra. He looked almost ashamed. "Tom says some mean stuff sometimes, but he's really just worried."

Terra smiled and ruffled his hair. "It's okay. I understand the feeling."

"I think he's upset too." Kyo went on as they followed in Leo's wake, Ven sat on his back. "He never tells me anything about how he feels, but when he gets all quiet and stuff the air around him feels really uncomfortable and I can't sit near him."

Terra appraised the young man wonderingly. Was he possibly a shaman as well? He had seen Kyo couldn't get the keyblade to cooperate with him, but he had that same grounding presence Mel carried around with her. He was far more open than his cousin, and it was apparent that these two clashed with Tomasa quite a bit.

"Do you do magic?" he asked out of curiosity.

Kyo grimaced. "I can't control it, I set fire to our neighbour's barn once…Tom never let me forget it. But!" he brightened instantly and held his hands out, shoulder width apart. "I can feel things in the air Grandpa told me is energy. I can't use that dowsing rod thing as well as Mel, but I can do it with my hands," he had the same earnest look, the willingness to learn he recalled from both Ven and Sora – the eagerness to show what he knew and to broaden his horizons further. "Tom doesn't let me practise much…he thinks people get the wrong idea and will hate me for it."

The scars on Mel's back jumped across Terra's inner vision and he recoiled from the thought. Perhaps there was some merit in Tomasa's methods for keeping him in check, even if they weren't the best for him emotionally…

"Well, not everyone out there likes things they don't understand."

"But that's bad, right?" Kyo asked. "That's how people lose their hearts to the darkness. Just cuz you can't see or understand something doesn't mean its not there, or its not affecting you, right? You can't see air, but you know that exists because the trees move and you breathe it in. You can't see the heart of the world, but it feeds everything around us, and the other worlds too. Just because you don't understand _why_ it does, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Right…?"

Terra laughed and reflexively pulled Kyo into a one armed hug; the boy grinned at him shyly but didn't resist. "You're a lot like Mel, aren't you? Sadly, not everyone has an open mind."

"Or open hearts." Kyo said stubbornly, his jaw jutting at a defiant angle. "Tom says if you want to stay free of the heartless you have to stay closed up. But doesn't that just attract them even more? A strong heartless would think it's a challenge and try to break you down to get at your heart. If you're open they don't think it's as good a prize to win. And if you keep your heart open you let light in too, so its hard to get swallowed by the darkness if you're full of light too." He stopped walking and pointed the way that Mel had walked moments before and said, "Mel's heart's wide open, and _she's_ fine. I can see her darkness as well as her light, but she's ruled by her moral compass that sits in the middle. Tom sits too close to the darkness, but…" he bit his lip, looking saddened. "He never listens to me…"

Terra cocked his head to one side, and sent his sense out towards the boy. He wriggled with discomfort for a moment before he settled again; apparently he could feel the brush of magic. And Terra could feel _him_ – subtly different to Mel, and yet almost identical; warm and centred, though now quite balanced, and caught up in some internal struggle he was unable to fully hide. It seemed he was worried greatly about his two family members.

"You're pretty bright." Terra told him. "Not just your light, you're a pretty smart kid, aren't you?"

"Try telling _him_ that," Kyo scowled, but his light flared with humour.

"Sometimes we close ourselves off while we try to deal with our problems."

"Yeah, but Tom's been like that since the day Mel left." He looked crestfallen, and Terra felt the urge to hug him. "It's not just his heart. He keeps his eyes and ears shut too."

Terra was now certain Kyo was an exceptionally perceptive person. In his childlike mind, he still had that ability to see beyond what was in front of him and keep a large mental picture in his head full of different possibilities. His gaze on the world wasn't shuttered by preset schemas and conditioned thinking – his mind floated freely between different ideas and beliefs. Despite his awkward movements and unstable emotions, he carried with him a certain grace that most children had, and then lost as they grew up.

XOXOX

"Try again," Aqua said encouragingly as Kyo dropped the wooden training sword again. "But bend your knees this time,"

Kyo nodded, eyes narrowed and focused solely on the task at hand. Ever since he had watched Ven and Mel sparring the day before he had been begging to be given some lessons, so while Tomasa was sorting their things out and Mel was busy helping Terra reorder some books in the library, Aqua had taken on the task of teaching him. Ven had pitched in to help, and they went slowly through the motions of the technique again, Kyo stubbornly refusing to give up even though he failed countless times. She remembered Ven getting frustrated as he tried to mimic hers and Terra's level of skill, when he was far behind them.

It was very clear he wasn't a warrior – his build wasn't especially strong, and his long limbs rather than giving him extra reach just made his movements slow and clumsy. Mel was small, and not as strong as the others, but she was incredibly quick, and she'd started making her main form of attack a series of swift light blows to figure out the weakest part of the defence and slamming into it with a heavier blow. Kyo wasn't cut out for this, though they humoured him and gave him the lessons he so ardently desired. He'd be quite good at tai chi if he could summon the patience to learn it, which would help his balance and core muscle strength.

Either way, the lesson was going well and they were all having fun, even if Kyo was slowly realising warrior training was wasted on him. Leo sat by Aqua's side, curled up and watching intently as he groomed his tail fins. There was one single feather in this plumage that had gone completely purple, and a few on his wings were starting to change colour too; rather than just the tips being tinted, the purple pigment seemed to be spreading further along the feathers so dots of colour stood out along the black of his wings.

"What's up?" Terra called, sauntering over as Ven demonstrated a perfect two-handed blow to Kyo. Mel trailed behind him with two oranges in her hands, and Leo got to his feet with a rumble of delight, catching the fruit in his mouth when she threw them to him.

"Kyo wanted some lessons," Aqua told him, smiling. "I thought we'd humour him."

"I'm no where _near_ as good as you guys." Kyo said, panting. "I don't think I'm very good…"

"That's why you practise at something to get even better." Terra said brightly. "Ven here used to be worse than useless,"

"Say that again!" Ven challenged, getting right up in Terra's face, scowling at him.

"Ignore those two," Aqua said firmly, putting herself between them and Kyo. "Try gripping the sword like this," she showed him.

"Having fun?" Mel asked as Kyo waved the sword around, his grip adjusted and grinning brilliantly.

"I suck at this, but its still loads of fun!"

There was a dull thud from the other end of the great hall, and Aqua turned to see Tomasa hovering over three large bags, one of which was Mel's huge Bergen that looked less than half full. He turned and strode over to them with his cool and confident walk, the two Black Coats slung over his arms, his eyes intent on something she couldn't easily read from him. She had been relieved when Terra had muttered to her that he found it hard to figure the young man out – she had thought it was just her.

"I'm very sorry to bother you, Aqua, but do you think you could lend us some food for the journey home? We don't have much left. I have enough to pay you for the inconvenience," he reached for a pouch in his pocket, and looked up to find everyone staring at him.

"What, we're going?" Kyo said into the silence. "But we only just _got_ here!"

"I know, and we're going home now." Tomasa said firmly, digging into the pouch.

"Shouldn't we talk about it first?" Kyo insisted.

"Tom, what are you talking about?" Mel managed to say, her face a black with shock.

"Don't be stupid, Mels. We came looking for you so we could bring you home. Now we've found you, now we can go home. I'm sure it's still standing and waiting for us. Look, I only took what you'd need for the journey and put it in your bag, you've got so much junk up there! You won't be needing it, all those animal parts…" he was probably referring to her owl wing rattle.

"Wait," she closed her eyes and shook her head, hands raised in defence, though Tomasa seemed to think it was defeat as he stepped forward towards her. "Tom, I don't think you understand. I can't leave,"

"Of course you can, you've got a way back home now. These good people won't force you to stay," he said, a certain carelessness in his attitude that prickled at Aqua's nerves.

Apparently, they pricked at Mel's too. "Tom, I can't just up and leave like that. I still have so much to learn,"

"I'm sure whatever you have left to learn you can find in a book in the library back home."

"Tom you're not listening again!" Kyo said, throwing the practise sword down so it clattered loudly and echoed off the high ceiling above. "I don't think Mel _wants_ to go, and I don't either!"

"Shut up Kyo, you don't know what you're talking about,"

"Don't talk to him like that!" Mel said, clearly upset.

"Mels, he's got to learn. Not like you make my job any easier."

"Hang on a sec," Terra said, his temper flaring. Aqua put a hand on his arm to steady him, and though he stopped moving forward he stood there glaring at Tomasa. "What gives you the right to talk to either of them like that?"

"I thought I made it quite clear your input in our family matters is not required," he said icily.

"Tom!" Mel said, visibly shaking. She shrugged Ven off when he tried to put a hand on her shoulder, and gave him an apologetic look before she rounded on her cousin. "Why are you being like this? You never used to be-"

"You know what Melanie?" he said impatiently. "Because unlike some of us round here,I_ grew up_."

"Yeah, into a douche bag." Kyo spat.

"Kyo," she said warningly and he didn't look in the least bit sorry.

"Calm down," Aqua said, raising her hands to try and dispel the ominous cloud that hung over them all. "Look, Tomasa," she said as politely as she could. "We wouldn't dream of keeping Mel here against her will. She's free to go if she wishes, but it's her choice."

"Yes, but will she make the right one?" he said.

"She would if you'd shut up long enough for her to make it!" Kyo snapped.

Tomasa raised a hand as if to strike him but he staggered backwards as Leo jumped in the way, teeth bared and all six of his fangs glinting in the sunlight from the windows. He seemed to have second thoughts about it with a dragon in his face, growling aggressively.

"Leo," Mel said sharply, the first time she had ever taken that tone with him. He glanced at her malevolently before he stepped down, snapping his powerful teeth to make a point. "Tom, _listen_ to me," she began, but Kyo cut across her.

"You're doing it again! You always just push people away! It's not just about what you wanted and talked about for years, Mel's got her own opinion too!"

"Kyo, I've had enough of this," he snapped, grabbing the boy by his wrist and pulling. "Mel, you're coming with us."

"Let me go! That's hurts!"

"Tom, let him go!" Mel said, reaching for her brother. "Tom!" she took his outstretched hand and reached for Tom with the other to break his hold.

"Stop it, Mel!"

"Tom you're hurting me!"

"Let him _go_!"

Aqua took a step forward along with Terra and Ven, and Leo roared to add to the cacophony, but Mel lost enough of her control to allow a blinding flash of white light that ended to tussle. Tomasa reeled backwards, clutching at his smarting hand while Kyo ran and dived behind his sister, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face between her shoulder blades. Tomasa looked at first shocked, and than very angry and he rounded on her.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"You were hurting him!" she said, desperately trying to keep her composure and get her point across. "Tom, please! Will you just_ listen_ to me for a moment?"

He glared at her, jaw set and rubbing his hand, saying nothing.

"I _can't_ go with you." She said calmly, her body trembling. "I need to stay _here_. There's no one at home to teach me to use the keyblade properly. And I'm safe here – it's the best place I can be, and the best place to learn what I need to know. I understand you want me to go home with you, but I just can't. It's not safe,"

"Oh, so its all right for _us_ to go back is it? It's safe for _us_ right?"

"That's not what I meant." Mel said quietly. "I'm a sitting target for the heartless by myself."

"Oh yeah?" he sneered at her, his own body trembling now, fists clenched so hard his knuckles went white. "Don't tell me that's been the excuse you've been telling yourself all these years?"

"Hey!" Ven yelled, about to take a running leap at him, but Aqua grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. She had a feeling Mel wouldn't thank him for knocking Tomasa out, even if he royally deserved it.

"Ven, it's all right." She said, looking more and more as if it really wasn't. Aqua wanted to do something – _anything_, but she was at a complete loss.

"No it bloody well isn't!" Tomasa shouted at her, making his cousins both flinch. "How dare you stand there and act like its nothing? Like it isn't dangerous for us! You just up and left us when we needed you most! That day," he closed his eyes, shaking with suppressed rage. The barriers he had been maintaining around himself fell and a raging anger and grief erupted from him, feeling like a physical blow as everyone – including Leo – staggered from it. "That heartless just tore through our home! And you just ran – you didn't even look back. I didn't blame you, not at first! It was terrifying, but when you didn't come back…" he gritted his teeth and took a deep breath before he screamed at her. "You didn't come back! You left me to deal with everything! Uncle Ben was dead, grandpa was dead, you didn't even have the grace to come to your own mother's funeral! It could have been any of us, and you would never have known! Mind you, we had to wait a long time while we found what was left of her, after the damn heartless destroyed the whole town!"

The only reason Mel was still on her feet was because Kyo was holding her. It looked like she had been punched not just in the stomach, but across every inch of her body. Her chest shook and a tear ran down her cheek while Kyo cried into her back. It was a horrible way to find out, and Aqua felt rooted to the spot, so even if she had been able to bring herself to hug her and tell her it would be all right – offer _any_ sort of comfort, she couldn't.

"And I was stuck with Kyo, trying to look after him and raise him, even though I was barely an adult myself! I was mad with worry because I didn't know if you were alive or dead! And then that trigger-happy _moron_ of a nobody – or whatever the hell they're called! – came and attacked us _again_! Yeah, we could have used a keyblade wielder to protect us, but where the hell were _you_? Gallivanting off in another world I now find out! Grandpa never did such stupid things! He stayed and looked after the town – you just abandoned us like so much rubbish! After all that time he spent doting on you, his precious little protégé that couldn't even stand up to fill his boots the _moment_ things got even remotely rough! The number of times Dragon Springs got attack, by those heartless and the nobodies! Some whackos ranting on about some stupid organisation, ripping people's hearts out left right and centre! We could have done with your so-called _protection_! It's too bad you were too busy running away from this responsibility you're so happy to harp on about now as an excuse to keep shirking your duties to this family-!"

As Tomasa's tirade raged on, Mel slowly began to shake even harder, tears sliding silently down her face, and Aqua could feel something gathering inside her, and she braced herself for the damn that was about to break. The woman standing before them had proven time and again to Aqua she was loving, affectionate, and above all loyal to her friends; it was hard to swallow the accusations Tomasa was throwing at her – _completely_ at odds with everything Aqua knew of Mel. As her cousin accused her of disloyalty to her family, something finally inside her snapped.

"_SHUT UP_!" she screamed at him, her voice unnaturally high and tearing at her throat. "JUST SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!" she threw her arms up and summoned her two keyblades – the chakra brand and the musical blade, clenching the grips so tightly in her hands her knuckles went white. "I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS! I NEVER WANTED TO BE A KEYBLADE WEIDLER! I WANTED A NORMAL LIFE WITH YOU AND KYO!" she paused, panting while she tried to gather herself. "Grandpa told me before he died that when the time came I'd _have_ to run! I wasn't strong enough to fight off that heartless, and what if I'd lost my heart to the darkness? A heartless and a nobody running around that could use the keyblade! I didn't want to go! I had to run while my home burned to the ground and watch mum get swallowed by the darkness – I never knew what had happened to any of you! When I stopped running I realised I was in a different world, and I didn't know how to get back!"

"So that's your excuse is it?" Tomasa shouted at her, and what little restraint she had collected was torn to shreds.

"I NEVER FORGAVE MYSELF FOR RUNNING! But what choice did I have? If I went up against that thing it would have _killed me_! And then what would you do doing? Screaming at my grave stone about how I shouldn't have died and it's all my fault still?!"

"Oh yeah like this is _my_ fault!"

"Maybe if you spent more time _listening_ to what people tell you rather than running around with your ears tight shut you'd have a less narrow view on life!"

"I SPENT FIVE YEARS OF MY LIFE TRYING TO TRACK YOU DOWN! WITH KYO THE HALF-WIT WONDER CLINGING TO MY TAIL ALL THE WAY!"

"AND IT NEVER OCCURRED TO YOU HE DIDN'T WANT TO GO!?"

"LIKE I WAS GOING TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND! _YOU_ SO CLEARLY HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH LEAVING PEOPLE BEHIND! HE WENT FROM BAD TO WORSE AFTER YOU PISSED OFF, I HAD TO DEAL WITH IT BY MYSELF! THEN YOU GO AND UNDO ALL THOSE YEARS OF WORK I SPENT ON HIM!"

Kyo sniffed loudly and Mel put a hand over his, Keyblades still in hand.

"Kyo is a human being not a science project," she snarled, something else inside her had snapped and she suddenly looked feral, like a half starved wild animal protecting its pack mates. The change in her countenance was positively alarming. "How _dare_ you treat him like that!"

"As if you'd ever do a better job," Tomasa hissed, matching her dangerously low voice. "Everyone thought he was weird from the beginning, no thanks to your _father_. We got run out of several worlds because they thought he was a demon speaker! Like you'd know what that feel like,"

"What, like having burning coals thrown at you and stabbed in the back because they think you're a witch? Or maybe getting thrown over a waterfall because they thought you summoned the monsters you're trying to save them from. Yeah!" she said bitterly as Tomasa recoiled from her comments. "I know what it feels like to have a mob after you! How _dare_ you suggest I don't – how _dare_ you tell me I have no right, or that I don't know, because there's a whole eleven years of my life you have _no clue about_. I _never_ wanted any of this! I want to go home and act like it never happened, but I _can't_. The keyblade chose _me_ – I have a duty I cannot shirk, a duty to not just our world but _all_ the worlds! The heartless follow me everywhere, because of the keyblade. I only just managed to survive _by myself_. You still had Kyo, even if you mistreated him! I had no one! I had to learn everything piece by piece off the bat. And by some _miracle_ I ended up here, with people like me, who could teach me and protect me, and help me learn to fight and use these powers properly. When I got here I was at the end of my rope! I thought I was on the brink of giving up – but you know what? I stuck to it – because no matter how bad things got, there was still a light at the end of the tunnel for me – and all I could think about was that when I was strong enough I'd come back and find you! And even with all the crap I had to deal with – _by myself_ – I can recognise that compared to some people I've met, I really did get off very lightly. I've had it terribly rough, but that's _nothing_ compared to what other people have suffered – and _I_ can see that! And I'm grateful that I can still differentiate between my own suffering and others and realise _I'm not the only one_!" she stopped, panting with exertion and trembling violently, only staying upright because her brother was clutching at her waist.

Tomasa was staring at her blankly, trying to take everything in. He clearly hadn't expected her to explode like that, and he was staggered by the force of her anger. Aqua was shocked as well, but she could understand that yearning need to give voice to the feelings inside. His mouth worked for a few moments like a fish out of water, gaping at her; Mel's face was set with grim determination, still clutching her weapons and Kyo's hands that were around her waist.

"S-so," he said eventually in a small voice. "You're not coming back?"

"She said she can't, cloth ears!" Kyo whimpered. "You weren't listening to a word she said!"

The Black Coats still in Tomasa's hands fell to the floor with a soft flump and he clenched his fists yet again. In as calm and controlled voice as he could possibly make through his gritted him he said, "Okay then. _Fine_. Kyo, we're going home."

"No." Kyo said stubbornly.

"What did you say?"

"NO. I don't want to go with you. You're too close to the dark – I can't stand being near you – it hurts me! I can't stand too close to it – I want to but I can't."

"Fine, just- just fine!" he lunged down to pick up one of the Coats and thrust his arm through the sleeve. Little dark shadows flickered and licked across his body as his defeat and resentment over whelmed him. "Have it your way – _both of you_!"

Mel's face drained of colour. "Tom, no stop!"

"No, don't let me spoil your fun! You clearly don't need _me_ anymore!" he shouted at her, and with that he spun on his back leg and pelted for the pile of bags he had left at the other end of the hall. A black portal of shifting shadows and smoke appeared behind them, and Mel tore herself away from Kyo to run after him, Ven a few uncertain steps behind her.

"Tom, wait! Please come back!" she shrieked as he leant down to grab his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Tomasa looked over his shoulder once at her as she ran after him, his expression tortured and defeated before he pulled the hood over his head and ran through the portal. Mel skidded to a halt as the darkness faded, and light seemed to return to the hall. She sank to her knees, staring dazedly at the place he had disappeared.

"Mel," Ven said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder as Kyo rushed to her side, white faced and acutely upset.

"I'm okay," she said shakily, as if trying to convince herself. She started when Leo bent his muzzle down to her face and licked her cheek. "I'm okay…I'm okay…I'm…"

Aqua bit her lip, not entirely sure what to do to help, and then turned to Terra hoping he'd have some answers. He was white as a sheet, staring blankly into space. He jumped and flinched when she said his name, and turned his horrified eyes to her.

"Terra, what's wrong?" it was bad enough what Mel had just gone through – she couldn't bear seeing him like this as well.

"Organisation…" he said in a strangled voice. "XIII."

Oh. _Oh_…

He bolted, sprinting right across the hall and jumping over the banisters to the foyer below before slamming against the front doors and running like his life depended on it. They called after him, but he didn't heed them; Aqua was torn between chasing after him and helping Mel. In the end, Leo decided for her – he walked over to her and pressed his nose against her forehead before motioning to Mel with his tail. He then bounded off to the end of the great hall and jumped, spreading his wings as he gracefully descended and followed Terra's footsteps.

Aqua numbly walked to Mel's side, where she was already being held by both Kyo and Ven. Aqua wordlessly put her arms around her, and Mel leaned into her embrace, struggling not to cry.

"He's gone." She said listlessly. "Into the Darkness…"

"Mel," Kyo said, trembling all over. "Please…please don't hate Tom. He…he really missed you. He just…he spent so long wishing for something, he couldn't take it when it wouldn't come true, right when he thought it would…" it was amazing to hear such wisdom and understanding coming from him, though Ven didn't look in the least bit convinced.

"I hope…he's all right…" she sat up straighter, wiping her eyes. "Where's Terra?"

"I don't know," Ven gave Aqua a worried look. "Leo went to find him."

"I don't hate Tom." Kyo said with finality and stubbornness. "But I'm as hell _mad_ at him right now."

XOXOX

Everything, everything he had been working for over the last few years – it meant nothing. The burning fervent desire to find Mels and bring her home again was gone. Deep down, he knew her reasonings were sound, and she was right – but on the top level of his thoughts he just couldn't bring himself to admit that he had been wrong. Five long years of hard work toiling away in the gruelling search amounted to nothing but heartache and a biting loneliness.

Tomasa crouched on the ground, in God only knew where, his bag to his chest as he tried to calm himself down. He needed to think ahead, about what to do and where to go. He couldn't go home, not without his family. But…where could he possibly go? He hadn't been thinking of anything but the pain in his chest when he ran through into the Darkness, and when he ran out again he had been here.

"Hey!" someone shouted and he looked up despite his despondency.

A huge person, with a cat like face and wearing the oddest red and blue buckled suit he had ever seen was standing not too far away, scowling at him.

"Get outta the way pipsqueak! I'm workin' here!"

Tomasa sighed, but didn't get to his feet. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint." He snapped. He wasn't going to crap from _anyone_ right now, whoever the hell they were.

The strange man was about to hurl another insult at him, but he paused before he spoke, suddenly looking at him curiously. They were in a sleepy little town, with a pretty sunset that had only worsened Tomasa's mood; he had no idea where he was, and he had stepped into a side street to sit and try to collect his scattered thoughts. It was just the two of them there.

"Say…you're not from around here, are you?"

"No." he said bluntly.

"You're from another world, ain't ya boy?"

"So? Why should you care?"

He folded his arms and looked straight through him. "Oh ho! You got a touch of the darkness yourself, kid!"

"I'm not a kid!" he snapped defiantly. "I'm a grown up!"

"Easy, easy!" the man walked over and stopped in front of him. "Didn't mean to cause no offence now. The name's Pete," he gestured at himself. "What's yours?"

After a moment of deep contemplation, he answered. "Tomasa."

"Well then, Tomasa," Pete said, holding a hand out to him that he didn't take. "I'd like to help ya out."

"Oh?" he wasn't going to fall for that old trick. "What could you possibly do for me?"

"Well, I know someone who could give you a hand. If you like, I'll take you to see her."

"No. She wants to help me that badly, she can come to me."

"Heh. Suit yourself. But you can't stay here all night. The heartless and the nobodies come out to play here."

"Thank you for your concern, Sir, but I think I'll be just fine." He wanted the man to go away. He didn't need this right now…

"Hey, you want to lose your heart and soul, that's _fine_ by me! Just don't come crying to me when you lose control of yourself!"

"_Calm yourself, Pete_." Said a smooth female voice from somewhere above.

Tomasa jumped to his feet and dived out of the way, slinging his bag onto his back. "Who's there?" he demanded, getting ready to run. He knew little of the forces at work in the worlds, only that if he went through the Corridors of Darkness without the coat that was folded into the top of his bag, he'd be a goner. He'd have to think of something else to escape.

A tongue of flame appeared on the ground in the centre of the street, black and green with a shot of purple. A shadow appeared in the air in the midst of it, solidifying into the form of a woman draped in a long black robe with a high neck, and deep purple trimmings down the front and the artfully gathered, tattered sleeves. Her head bore a sort of mantled headdress that made him think of a dragon, though nothing like that feathered Leo Mel had introduced him to. Her skin was a ghostly grey and her eyes were a disconcerting yellow. She smiled at Tomasa, and he stiffened, ready to run for it.

"Peace, my child," she said in a soft and soothing voice that didn't really put him at ease. "You have nothing to be afraid of."

"Yeah, two strange whackos down a dark alley, that's not cause for concern."

"You're a very bright young man, aren't you?" she asked, stroking the yellow orb at the end of a long staff she held in her hand. "But you seem to me to have…_lost_ _direction_. Am I right?"

Tomasa blinked, and relaxed slightly. How could she possibly know that? Unless she was a mind reader, like Kyo could sometimes do.

"Yes, I am a Seer of sorts, and I saw the dilemma you were in." she stepped forth, and Tomasa didn't retreat. She came right up to him and walked around him in a circle, saying, "You were brushed off by your family, the ones you thought you could always rely on. They don't see things for what they truly are…"

Tomasa bit the inside of his lip. No, Mel had been right…sort of…had she?

"She spoke the truth from her heart." He told himself out loud. "Just…because I don't agree with it…" he stopped. No! He wasn't going to admit defeat. His stubbornness kicked in and he refused to give up so easily. He exhaled loudly with disgust. "Mel just doesn't want to see it my way," he said bitingly. No, she hadn't even tried going back with him. If she had, and found she still needed her teachers, she could always have gone back to visit…possibly? Maybe…right…?

"No, she doesn't. And she replaced you and your cousin so easily with her new friends."

That was right…

"But, Tomasa, was it? If you come with me, I can help you to make her see sense."

"How?" he asked, something in him still refusing to give into her as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Why should I trust you at all?"

"A very good question, my dear." She said with a smile he couldn't quite gauge. "But tell me this, why should you trust Mel? And tell me, what does you _heart_ tell you?"

Tomasa swallowed slowly and tried to think straight. It was like wading through custard; the moment you stopped to take stock of things you started sinking, and you couldn't quite free yourself from the mire.

"My heart…" he had no idea; he couldn't conjure any meaningful words from deep inside to help him. "I don't…"

"Why don't you come with me?" the woman asked, the air around her shimmering for an instant. "If you decide you would rather take a different rout, than you can always leave. But, as Pete here has said, this place can be dangerous at night. It would be a shame for one with such a strong heart as yours to fall afoul of the heartless."

Tomasa considered this, weighing up the risks on both sides. Then, a voice from the depths of his chest in a shadowy corner just screamed at him, "To hell with it!"

"All right then," he said, nodding to himself. "On a trail period, right?"

"As you wish." She bowed low with respect. "Please, Tomasa. Come with me,"

"Wait, I don't know your name." He said, feeling somewhat rude and ungrateful.

"My name," she said with a smile that made some small part of him flinch inwardly. "Is Maleficent."

Tomasa looked from her to Pete, and as they opened a portal for him to follow through he pulled his Black Coat from his bag and threw it on, wondering what the hell he was doing. Just before he followed Pete into the darkness, he turned to look at the peaceful sunset that contrasted sharply with the atmosphere he had left the great hall in. Mel's pleads stung his chest sharply and he took a steadying breath.

"I'll show you. I'll prove I'm right." He said, pulling the hood up over his head and diving into the portal, leaving it all behind him.

XOXOX


	10. The Winds of Change

**AN: hello again people! I am so sorry in the delay of this update – I went away for a couple of days and got completely side tracked and it was hard to get back into the swing of things :P but I got there eventually…**

**If you have the time please leave me a review and let me know what you think! :) I greatly appreciate the feedback!**

_**The Winds of Change**_

It took a while for the initial shock to subside, but Mel managed to get a grip on reality. She had to lie down for a bit, and she let Kyo fall asleep in her arms before she careful manoeuvred him aside comfortably and went to get a drink. She chugged the glass of water down and wandered over to the kitchen where she knew Aqua and Ven would be. They gave her concerned looks, but she kept it together – she felt too tired to get upset again.

"I'm going to go look for Terra." She told them, and they didn't argue or try to stop her. Outside in the full sunshine, despite the deep cold that hung in the air, it was warm enough in the sunlight, and she stood there for a moment, basking in the light and heat of the sun before she cast out for Terra and Leo. A trail of energy led her, as did the claw marks in the mud; Terra was trying and failing to shield himself from her, but she doggedly refused to give up.

It hurt her deeply, all the things Tom had said to her, but on another level she had felt all his pent up frustration – and despite her anger at him, she was desperately worried about him wondering the Corridors of Darkness, by himself. She didn't quite understand Terra's reaction, but she was determined that they could set things right again, and she didn't want him to be upset or afraid.

Leo came to greet her on the path, huffing loudly from the cold and something like exasperation. "Where is he?" she asked gently, stroking his face and feeling the tenuous connection to his energy peter out. Leo nudged her along and followed her down the path; Terra was curled up into a hunched ball under a tree trying to be inconspicuous. It might have worked if she couldn't pick up on his distress. Mel got as close as she dared before she spoke, standing a few feet away from him.

"Terra?"

He didn't move.

She sat down beside him on the cold ground, shivering in the shade until Leo settled down and offered his body heat to them both.

"Terra," she tried again, shaking him arm. _Please_…she silently begged in her mind.

Terra raised his head slightly, but didn't look at her. "Please go away," he asked her in a small voice.

"No." she said simply. She had already lost one member of her family to the shadows today, and she wasn't about to let another slip from her grasp either.

"You- should really…hate me…"

"And why would I do that?" she asked evenly. In the wake of her shouting match with Tom, she felt quite serene on one level – every last ounce of her anger and despair had been spent. All that was left was a deep calm, like that which followed a raging storm. The only things that bothered her now were her worry for Kyo and Terra, and of course Tom – wherever he was now.

"It's my fault…"

"Terra…?"

He sat up straighter, shoulders still hunched, dashing tears from his eyes. "What your cousin said…about the nobodies. And…that organisation. It was my fault…"

"How?" she asked, confused. "You weren't there, and you're not a nobody…"

Terra looked bitter as he wiped more tears from his eyes, not sobbing but just breathing heavily. "Ven told you…about what happened to him, right?"

"Yes." She said, remembering what he had said.

"The man who extracted the darkness from his heart…he manipulated me, and turned me against our master. And he succeeded in taking over my body. I…lost all control. And…" he bit his lip and winced at the painful memories, and Mel wished she had stopped to bring something with her for a cleansing – a rock, a feather, _anything_. It was much harder to work with just your mind when you and the person in question were in such states. "He willingly gave himself up – to the darkness…so a nobody was created, that went on to build Organisation XIII."

Mel frowned. The name rang a bell, but when the heartless situation had risen she had gone unwillingly to ground; she had been nowhere near strong enough to pitch in and help at the time. She still marvelled at how Sora and Riku had managed to accomplish what they had, at such a younger age than her. She had kept out of the crisis with the worlds reluctantly, using her means of divining to find the best thing for her to do, which was always a slight variation on the words, _keep calm – stay safe – your time will come_.

"They wanted peoples hearts…if I hadn't let Xehanort in, in the first place…this never would have happened!"

"Terra," she said slowly, realising this called for the utmost delicacy. "You really think I'd blame you for something so out of your control?"

He gave her a pleading look. "Even if I didn't actually do it – I still let him in! I still set things up so he could get away with it…"

"And you just sat back and let it all happen?" she said impulsively, as if someone else was speaking through her. _Ah_, she knew what was happening. She could feel a presence in the air behind her, a subtle energy that had come to her a few times before in the past, when she needed guidance in sensitive situations. "Did you really want it to happen?" This was a perilous game she was playing, but the dance of energy had already begun and she had to see it through to the end. Terra gave her a wounded look before he made a fist and pounded it into the earth at the base of the tree.

"Of course not!"

"Well you don't sound so certain." She prayed he didn't hate her after this. "You say it's your fault but that you didn't want it to happen. Which is it?" Usually she could see a person's weak points and tried to help them cement it up, or to strengthen them with kind words. Mel wasn't used to getting under people's skin, but she knew she had to now for Terra's sake – and she wasn't enjoying it at all.

"I didn't want it to happen!" he snapped at her, the floodgates barely holding his rage back.

"Why?" she said, trying to and trying not to sound challenging. It went against her nature to rile people up on purpose.

"Why? _Why_!" he stood up, trembling. "Because my friends got hurt because of me! I tried to kill Aqua! Ven was in a coma, our Master got _killed_ – and that bastard managed to get away with it!" he paused, taking deep shaking breaths as Mel got to her feet, not even up to his shoulders. "He manipulated all of us! He drew the darkness out of me – he used me to try and destroy everything!" he closed his eyes, and punched the tree trunk mercilessly. "And I was stupid enough to let him! I spent years trapped, trying to break his hold on me, all the while he was tearing people's hearts out and trying to spark a Keyblade War, using my body to do it!" He ranted on, and Mel watched with a detached expression, waiting for the right moment. Whenever he stopped to draw breath the energy behind her directed her to say certain things that riled him up again and sent him on an angry tirade of his own. She knew when this was over he'd probably feel guilty, especially after her bust up with Tom, but her head felt very clear and her thoughts exceptionally sharp.

Terra took it out on the tree, beating it with his fists, venting his anger and frustration that he had kept bottled up at the bottoms of his heart. All the hatred, resentment and self-disgust boiled over and spent itself. He stopped, leaning against the tree with his right arm and his forehead, breathing hard, the draining sensation that usually followed crashing over him.

"Terra," she said, taking a stance.

He turned to her reluctantly and gasped when she plunged her hand into his solar plexus. She had only done this once before, and she was terrified of getting it wrong; the energy entity behind her led her hand and told her what to do. She had met this entity on several dream quests, and she knew they wouldn't let her make a mistake. The knotted ball of excess darkness, that was still clinging to him from before they had met, was lodged right in his power centre – it had been screwing with his system on and off for a long time now, causing the pent up emotions and interfering with his energy to give him spurious physical symptoms at best and internal psychological turmoil at worst.

_Take it in your hand. State your intentions. Channel it to the ground, ask Mother Earth to take it as neutral energy. Feed it back to the Mother. Do it quickly in one movement._

Mel reached for his spine as she had before, but this time she wasn't just relieving the pressure, she was removing it. The knot resisted feebly in the light she let flicker from her own heart, all of her chakras wide open as she took energy from above for the task and prepared to channel it back down.

_**I'm doing this for Terra to help alleviate his burden, to cleanse and heal and help him on his path.**_

The words were firm and clear – her intention to heal and cause no harm in any way, shape or form.

She took the gnarled bundle of dark, negative energy and pulled. The shock in Terra's eyes widened as she met his gaze and murmured with her mind, "Sorry…" Mel pulled against the resistance and removed her hand, the energy actually visible for a moment – black and smoky with quivering solid black bolts like electricity – before she opened her hand and sent the energy from her crown chakra straight down her spine and along her arm, channelling it down through her own root chakra and into the earth where it was absorbed and neutralised, where it could no longer hurt anyone.

Terra gasped, clutching at his stomach before he fell to his knees, eyes wide with surprise. Mel exhaled sharply and sat down, panting. She was going to have a terrible headache later if she didn't drown herself with several glasses of water soon…

"What…was – that?" he managed to say in between gasps for air.

It took a moment for Mel to gather herself and answer. "Cleansing without a totem or tool. It's really hard to do it right…"

"But…" he was staring at her, wide eyed like a child who couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. "You did that before, right?"

"Stimulating and balancing is different to cleansing. I'm sorry I said those things…" she bit her lip. "I had to stir things up to bring the darkness forwards before I could redirect it." The entity that had helped her brushed very briefly against her energy system in farewell, and then disappeared. Mel made an old sign of her people, curling her ring and little finger on her right hand over and tucking her thumb in, the other two fingers extended; with them she drew a circle around her torso and head, starting and finishing at her left shoulder, moving clockwise. She would be burning an offering later for the help she had received, but this would convey her respect and thanks for now.

"But…what did you actually _do_?" Terra was staggered. He bore all the hallmarks of an adrenaline rush; dilated pupils, increased breathing rate, shaking, and a sweat was breaking out across his forehead.

"The best way to trap and remove something is to make it active. Getting you angry made it easier for me to dislodge it from you. I noticed that knot in your spine the last time I gave you a touch up," she gestured at his stomach. He'd probably find a nice big bruise there come morning. "And because it was taking over from everything else just now, I could physically remove the energy. It was like a knot wrapped around your spine, and I channelled it back down to the ground, where the earth will neutralise it."

Terra stared at her uncomprehendingly.

"You'll understand when you recover." She assured him. "This was a more aggressive form of healing – it's not something I like doing often…"

They sat in silence, catching their breath, and after a while Mel did a quick grounding exercise on Terra, keeping the energy planted through his feet so it didn't float away. Eventually, he turned to her, his eyes still wide but his pupils closer to normal.

"Thanks…whatever it was you did…"

She smiled weakly. She was going to sleep like a log tonight…

"Don't mention it."

"And…sorry, on top of everything else…" he looked down at his shoes, ashamed.

Mel put a hand on his head, like he often did to her, and ruffled his hair. "I'm sure the rhyme and reason will reveal itself in due course. Till then, I'll just spend my remaining energy on worrying about you and Kyo, and Tom."

Terra pulled a face. "That was unfair, what he said to you."

"What's most unfair is that it affected you just as badly." She said evenly. The fault lines along her heart rippled but didn't tear again. "At least…now I know what happened, and I can honour my mother's memory properly. It's…considered bad luck to construct or conduct any memorial for someone if they aren't actually dead – I never did because I didn't know…" it generally meant being disrespectful, but it stemmed from an old and deep seated superstition that you were inciting the harbinger of death to follow the person. Mel kept most of her old customs at arm's length, but some of them still niggled their way into the back of her mind to sit and simmer.

Terra gave her a pained look before lowering his gaze. "I'm sorry…"

"It's behind me, so don't be, but thank you. I do value your friendship – and the others – very highly."

Terra gave her a sincere smile, and she returned it.

"Just promise one thing," she asked, raising her index finger to emphasise her point.

"Yeah?"

"Please don't blame yourself for something that was beyond your control. I don't like seeing you in that state…"

He cut her speech short as he gathered her up in a bear hug, saying nothing but, "Thanks."

XOXOX

Kyo was fiddling with a calculator Riku had left behind some weeks ago, idly playing with numbers. He was curled up against Leo's side in the corner of the library while the four wielders of the keyblade sat doing some written work with varying degrees of success. Ven was making little head way, and he kept thinking back on two days ago, when Mel had finally dragged Terra back inside. They both had mud-streaked legs and looked tired, but Terra seemed much lighter than before. Mel had scuttled back outside with a short wooden stave much like a wand with a crystal set into one end, and when asked she said she had to apologise to a tree. It was such a typical _Mel_ thing to say that they didn't question her further on the matter.

Whatever Mel had done, Terra was much calmer, considering the revelation Tomasa had dropped on them. Ven had been worried he would get agitated and worked up, but Terra didn't mention it, and neither did Mel, so Ven only voiced it to Aqua when they were alone. They were both relieved, and she was curious despite the morbidity.

Still, Terra wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Mel – relief wasn't a strong enough word for how Ven felt.

"So if you're running low on manna, you can still cast an effective cure spell?" Mel asked, not quite grasping the concept of curative magicks. She had a very good repertoire for field medics and first aid, as well as her herbal tinctures she threw at them when they started getting sick, but the finer points of the cure spell under battle conditions still eluded her.

"Yeah, it just consumes what you have at the time," Terra said, pointing at the page she was reading from. "Then you have to regenerate your manna before you can cast another spell of any kind."

"Or just throw an ether over your head," Ven added.

They fell into companionable silence for a while, until finally Kyo slammed the calculator down on the floor with a crack. They all looked up at the noise, including Leo who jerked awake with a sleepy grunt. Kyo stood up and walked with purpose to the table they were convened at, and sat down in the chair next to Mel.

"I need to go." He said bluntly.

"Where?" she asked, neatly closing the book she had been reading and sliding it away from her. "Why?"

"I'm in your way." He said stubbornly, jaw jutting and sitting hunched over so he had to look up at her face. "In everyone's way. I can't fight, I can't control my magic – and I'm one more thing for you to worry about here. I'm just gonna get in your way if I stick around. I don't want to leave you or anything, I just…" he shrugged helplessly. "I don't want to be a burden to any of you."

"Of course you're not!"

"Don't be stupid," Ven added.

"But I am!" Kyo insisted, meeting Ven's gaze earnestly. "What can I actually _do_ around here that'll help you guys?"

When no one else stepped forward to give an answer, Terra ventured, "Laundry?"

Aqua whacked him smartly round the back of the head with her battered old pencil case.

"I can't help you…I just feel like I should be doing something helpful, but I can't here…" he looked from one face to another, before finishing with Mel. "I'm sorry; I just don't think I should be staying here. I'll just get under your feet."

Mel's face twisted sadly and she cupped his face with her hand. "No…"

Ven looked from Aqua to Terra, and then frowned. Something was going on in Terra's head, and he wanted to know what it was; finally Terra put his own book aside and fixed Kyo with a look that the boy returned solemnly.

"Kyo, you like numbers, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And you like science? Like physics and things like that?"

"Yeah, I do. I like learning about how stuff works."

Terra thought for a moment before he deliberated over telling them all his big master plan.

"So?" Ven demanded, impatient.

"So – Kyo wants to be somewhere where he can help and make a difference, and where he isn't under our feet and causing us trouble,"

"He's _not_ causing us any trouble here he is now." Mel said firmly, a flicker of displeasure behind her eyes at his words, though it was weak and hardly amounted to any strong emotion. Still, Ven took note of it.

"Yeah I am…" Kyo muttered, folding his arms. "Ouch!" he recoiled as she flicked his ear.

"Well, who do we know, who likes science, could probably do with an assistant, and can keep Kyo safe and happy?" Terra asked.

They all looked at him for a moment, before the penny dropped.

"You mean Ansem the Wise?" Ven asked.

"Yeah!"

Aqua looked thoughtful, turning from Kyo to Terra. "You know, that's not such a bad idea. Kyo, would you like to meet him?"

"Who's…that guy?" he blinked, looking uncannily like Mel when she was caught unawares – eyes wide, the same odd quality that seemed to absorb and reflect the light around them.

XOXOX

It was an unusual request, to say the least. Ansem was expecting Aqua and the others, with a prospective student in tow. He knew very little, because the message had been quick and vague on details, but he was happy to meet them all the same.

Truth were known, Ansem was reluctant to take on new apprentices; his back wasn't completely down after what had happened, and though he was adamant he was not going to let it render him incapable of trusting again, it still lingered in the back of his mind. This boy Aqua wanted him to meet was a relation of Mel's, so it was highly likely he was nice and trustworthy person, but Ansem would wait to see with his own eyes first, either way.

Ansem had been sat at his desk looking over a report the Committee had put together on local heartless activity when he had been summoned by Leon. As they left the castle and walked along the brick path out of the shade of the building, Leo was just rounding the corner of the postern, treading very carefully. There had been a deep frost for two nights in a row, and the ground was quite treacherous, which was probably why everyone was mounted on his back as he plodded along the sparkly, ice-strewn ground. Leon slipped away surreptitiously after murmuring something about meeting Sora and his friends, as the party debussed and leaving Ansem to greet them alone.

"Hey!" Ven called, waving merrily and jumping from Leo's back, skidding on the icy ground.

A teenaged boy wearing a Black Coat jumped after him and turned to help Mel and Aqua down while Terra slid off Leo's other side. The dragon sat back on his haunches and stretched his front legs, flexing his large wings that were now speckled with the occasional all-purple feather, giving him a mottled appearance. Another small plume was growing underneath his jaw, like a small beard of short, thick feathers all tipped with the same varying shades of purple.

Ansem smiled and greeted them, shaking Aqua's hand and eyeing up the boy curiously. At first glance, he was very different to Mel: slightly long, very curly red and copper hair, with fair skin and a smattering of freckles across his heart shaped face, and a long gangly frame. Then he was brought forward to stand squarely in front of Ansem, and the connection between them was unmistakeable – they had the same eyes.

"Ansem, this is Mel's brother – Kyo." Aqua said, gesturing at him. "Kyo, this is Ansem the Wise."

The boy stared at him, wide eyed, before hastily sketching a respectful bow. He gave Ansem the distinct impression that he was quite young in spirit, very childlike. He was holding Mel's hand, even though he was much taller than her and could have passed as her elder if not for the expression he wore.

"A pleasure to meet you, my dear boy."

"And you too." He nodded, focused on being polite.

Leo made an odd, hacking sort of noise that could have been a cough before he sat down on all fours, his tail flicking in agitation. He fixed them all with his large golden eyes and grunted loudly.

"What's _your _problem?" Ven asked, and he snarled in response.

"Easy," Terra said, putting a hand on one of his twisted horns.

Leo relented, but he glowered at the ground between his front paws, tail whipping back and forth restlessly.

"Is something the matter?" Ansem asked, concerned by the change in behaviour.

"He's just grumpy," Ven said loudly. "We had to kick him out of bed this morning."

Leo slowly rose to his feet, growling. Surprisingly, everyone took a step back with raised hands, so Ansem followed their lead. Mel carefully picked her way over to him, hands up in a gesture of submission before she reached up to stroke his nose.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Leo snorted and looked away like a petulant child, eyes hard. He was annoyed about something, or maybe even upset, but he gave no indication of what it was that irked him so. In the end, Ven and Terra elected to stay outside with him while Aqua and Mel went inside with Kyo and Ansem. Because they were not accommodating Leo's ever increasing frame, they went into his study and sat down around the desk. Ansem reshuffled the papers he had been reading and set them aside for later before he fixed Kyo with a penetrating stare. The boy had been staring around the room in awe before he caught the man's eye, and then squirmed uncomfortably for a moment until Mel stroked his hair soothingly and he settled down.

"So, Kyo." Ansem said pleasantly, steadily gauging the boy's reactions. "Aqua tells me you like science?"

"Yeah. I mean, yes!" he gulped, giving Mel a pleading look. She just smiled and patted his hand reassuringly. It seemed he was determined to keep his manners despite his apparent usual and casual self.

"So, what about science do you like?" if there were to be any skulduggery he wanted to weed it out as soon as possible. Although, there was no guile he could find in the boy's eyes.

Slowly, Kyo told Ansem that he liked understanding how things worked, and he wanted to know _why_ something was, like the colour of the sky or why some people had darker skin than others. He didn't seem too fussed about hearts and souls; when Ansem asked him nonchalantly Kyo shrugged and said, "It's basically impossible to understand anyway. The Heart of the World isn't something you play with – it'll play with you right back." At this point, Ansem had the distinct impression that Kyo shared some of Mel's magical abilities. She just sat through the discussion silently, looking from one face to another as they spoke in turn, occasionally giving her brother's hand a squeeze or tucking a stray lock of hair back. Upon closer and surreptitious inspection of his light, Kyo revealed even more similarities with her, and he found it impossible to not like the boy. When asked if he would like to see the main research lab, his eyes grew enormous and he nodded enthusiastically.

Kyo dragged Mel around the room, pointing at every other object and book, exclaiming loudly and asking a vast number of questions before he found one of Ansem's favourite contraptions, and to the man's delight Kyo knew exactly what it was for.

"See? See!" he thrust it in Mel's face, grinning with excitement.

"Yes, I can see it. What is it, then?" she asked, wiping the oily liquid from her nose and taking another look at the thick wire cubed-frame from a distance.

"You can make square shaped bubbles with it! Look," and Kyo dunked it in the tub of specially prepared water before grabbing a large pipette from the table behind him.

Ansem chuckled to himself, marvelling at the boy's enthusiasm. "He could give Sora a run for his money."

"I know," Aqua laughed, watching them both with a motherly fondness.

"It's a bit strange…he's very clearly a young man, and he has an exceptional mind." He had managed to perform several calculations for Ansem during their discussion without the aid of anything more than his brain. "And yet, he behaves much like a child."

Aqua's smile fell slightly, and she let her gaze drift to the ground. "Mel told me, before we came here, the reason why. She said I could tell you, because she didn't want to repeat it, but only if you asked and wanted to know."

"Well, I suppose if I am to consider keeping him here with me, I had better know." Ansem said evenly.

Aqua deliberated for a moment before she spoke. "Mel and Kyo are half brother and sister. Same mother, different fathers. Mel's father is…not a very nice person. Kyo's father died when he was quite young, and he doesn't remember very much about him. A few years after her stepfather died, Mel's father came back to their town, and he broke into their house. She thinks he was probably drunk at the time… Anyway, he attacked them all, and Mel's grandfather intervened. He threatened to kill the man if he ever dared to show up there again. Kyo was quite badly beaten, and he became a nervous wreck for a long time afterwards. Mel said he as always a bit quirky and lucid, but after that…" she closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. "He wasn't quite the same. She takes pretty good care of him herself, and I think her cousin did to a certain extent, but he was always trying to get Kyo to be quiet and not speak so he didn't let on he was different. As you can see," she gestured at him now, grinning triumphantly as he showed Mel the square bubble he had made. "Once you get him talking its difficult to stop him."

Ansem considered her words gravely as he looked at the boy once again. "For such a trauma, he doesn't seem very withdrawn."

"No. Mel got him to start talking again, to make him crawl out of the shell he made to protect himself. And talking became a way of dealing with his problems. The only real 'damage' is that his emotional development became stunted to a certain degree – he's actually pretty mature in some respects, it's just he can't really keep a handle on his emotions. Especially when he's angry or upset. Then, he'll throw a tantrum like a child. And soon forget what upset him in the first place, in most cases." She smiled indulgently.

"Hey Aqua, check it out!" Kyo bounced over, waving the frame around with the little cube shaped bubble nestled in the middle of the shimmering sheets of pearlescent colour that stretched across the wire frame. "_Square_ bubble!"

"Wow! Look at that,"

Ansem showed Kyo some of the things he was currently working on, and the boy lapped up everything with fervour. He had an incessant thirst for understanding, as opposed to knowledge – he didn't want to _know_ everything, he just wanted to understand the phenomenon he could see in front of him. He also liked playing with numbers; he found a scientific calculator on one of the benches and sat down to play with it while Ansem took a box down from one of the shelves over a sink. He took the small coloured balls and plastic rods that he used to make large-scale models of molecules and placed them in front of Kyo. He put the calculator down, wide eyed again.

"I have a small task for you, Kyo." He said pleasantly. "I saw what you did with the cube frame, and I'm very impressed you knew what it was for."

Kyo grinned sheepishly.

"Now, I'd like to give you a little test."

"I'm slightly dyslexic." Kyo said in a small voice.

Ansem chuckled. "No, no. This is a reasoning and logic exercise. I just want to see what you can come up with,"

Kyo nodded and picked up the nearest pieces, looking at them closely. Ansem had used these materials before for the same task, and knew it would work, providing they ere used in the correct sequence.

"I'd like, if you can, for you to make me a triangular shaped bubble."

"Okay." Kyo said, eyes glued to the pieces in his hands.

Aqua came to sit beside him on one of the work stools and watch, while Mel hung back. Ansem went to stand beside her and they looked on as Kyo held one piece after another up to the light, discarding most and piling the rest up before he started fiddling with them, totally engrossed in his task.

"Your brother is a very likeable young man." He said eventually.

Mel smiled. "He's a handful."

"And exceptionally bright, despite his lack of emotional control. Tell me, what exactly is it you are looking for, for him?"

Mel took a while to respond, but when she did she met his gaze evenly and said, "I want him to be in a place where he can learn, exercise his mind. I want him to be safe and free to be himself without worrying that someone's going to call him out as a witch. But above all, I want him to be _happy_."

"And do you think he would be happy here?"

"Do you think you can give him the care and attention he needs on top of your duties?" she countered, eyes serious.

Ansem smiled at her. "Well, I'm very willing to give it a shot. I can hardly think of a reason why not to. And I think having Kyo around would be of help to me. He's very driven and focused."

"Only when he wants to be. Give him a challenge and he'll find some way around it, even if he has to spend days figuring it out. He doesn't think like other people."

"He's a lateral thinker."

"Mmm."

They watched Kyo dunk the frame he had made into the liquid, and then stare at it while his mind ticked away at the possibilities.

"Well, if you are happy to, I'll be glad to look after your brother. But I have to remind you, he will have to work to earn his keep."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem." Mel said brightly. "He's been dying to work in a proper lab for years. He thinks the white coat and goggles look cool."

Ansem chuckled. "Well, I have a fun experiment he might like to try."

"Tah-dah!" Kyo shouted, standing up on the bar of his stool, waving the frame he had made with a small bubble suspended in the prism, a near perfect triangular pyramid.

"Well done," Ansem smiled at him – it had taken him only a matter of minutes to figure it out.

When they convinced Kyo they had exhausted the lab for now, Ansem showed him the wing of the castle that he would be spending most of his time in if he chose to stay. Kyo was delighted with the vistas he could see through the windows, and ran up and down the corridors and rooms trying to see every inch of the view below. Aqua smiled and wandered after him, and Mel managed to get separated from them somewhere along the way.

"That's okay," Kyo said with a grin. "She's probably just found something more interesting. She always comes back eventually. Hey, can you see that rainbow?" he turned fluidly to Aqua and pointed through a window at a fountain in the far distance, changing the course of conversation in one motion.

"Where?"

"Right over there! See?"

"Still not quite-"

"It's right _there_!"

"I'll go see if I can find Mel." Ansem offered, and left them as Kyo tried to convince Aqua of the existence of his rainbow. It wasn't long until he found her; as Ansem walked past an open door he heard the first strains of music coming from a piano, a soft melody that was soon accompanied by an equally soft voice. Whether by accident or design, her words seemed to be loaded with meaning as Ansem glanced through the door.

"As you go through life you'll see, there is so much that we – don't understand." Mel was looking down at the keys as she played; swaying slightly from side to the way some musicians did in time with the rhythm. She had a clear singing voice, if a bit quiet – much like her normal speaking voice; somewhere between an alto and a soprano. "And the only thing we know, is things don't always go – the way we planned." A break in the singing came as the chords shifted, and became slightly more pronounced; gearing up for the next part of the song, and her voice suddenly became very strong and rang out clearly over the piano. "But you'll see everyday that we'll never turn away-" her voice was louder, but the piano softened in comparison. "When it seems all your dreams come undone. We will stand by your side – filled with hope and filled with pride! We are more than we are, we are one." Her lips moved silently as she played what may have been a chorus, but she didn't sing out loud what the words may have been. The music again grew in volume and passion before tapering off into a soft lilt again, and when she began the next verse her voice was a much higher pitch, like a first soprano singing at the top end of a choir above all else.

"If there's so much I must be, can I still just be me – the way I am? Can I trust in my own heart, or am I just one part – of some big plan?" As the music rallied, she let her head swing back and sang the next part to the ceiling, the room reverberating with her song, returning to the slightly deeper alto line. "Even those who are gone are with us as we go on – your journey has only begun." The next line was slightly more poignant; it started soft and quiet, but ended strong and powerful. "Tears of pain, tears of joy – it's one thing _nothing_ can destroy! It's our pride, deep inside – we are one!" As the chorus played, Mel embellished it with more tinkling to notes over the deeper chords beneath.

Ansem started when someone put a hand on his shoulder – he had been so absorbed with listening that he hadn't noticed Terra appear behind him. The younger man smiled, and slid into the room, making his way over to the piano stool where Mel was perched. She didn't break off or stop what she was doing, nor did she look up from her work, but she did shift further up the stool to make space, and angled her body so she could still reach the higher end of the keys.

"We are one, you and I – we are like the earth and sky. One family under the sun! All the wisdom to lead, all the courage that you need." There was a purposeful pause as the music rippled before Mel delivered the line of the song. "You will find when you see – we are one." She played the same refrain of music, slowing it down to finish the piece until the final chord was struck, and the notes wavered in the air before tailing off completely, before she looked up at Terra.

"Nice." He said, his face not visible from where Ansem was stood, but he was probably smiling at her.

"Can I help at all?" Mel asked pleasantly.

"Think we found the problem. Leo's got a lose tooth. And he's not happy."

"Oh dear." Her lips twisted as if she was fighting a smile. "That can't be good…"

"How's it going with Kyo?"

"He's in love with the place. And Master Ansem. Thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread because he got to play with lots of new and shiny scientific toys."

Terra laughed, and they were about to embark on a new conversation when Kyo himself rushed into the room and skipped to Mel's side where he draped his arms around her shoulders.

"Mel, guess what!"

"I probably won't, so tell me anyway."

"Hey," Ansem turned to see Ven grinning at him before he slid into the room and pounced on Terra. "Sora found an ice cream shop that's open!"

"In_ this_ weather?" he said ludicrously.

"Hello again," Aqua said, appearing from a bend in the corridor.

"Hello," Ansem smiled at her.

"Hello yourself," Lea muttered, also appearing into the corridor with Leo at his shoulder, who looked quite dejected. He whined and called Aqua's name, stumbling to her and laying his huge muzzle on her shoulder, whimpering and searching for some sympathy. "That over grown feather duster of yours needs to see a dentist before he does any more damage to our fair city." Lea snapped at her. "Got it _memorised_?" he looked more tired than threatening.

"Memorised," Aqua said, tapping her temple and scratching Leo's chin. "So what's the problem?"

"Ven found one of his teeth is wobbling. Seems he's outgrowing his baby teeth."

Aqua fished a small book out of her pocket and noted something down in it while Leo whined loudly at her.

"Ansem, I have another favour to ask." She said, stowing the book away and fixing Lea with a look. "You can stay and listen to this too,"

"I'm _bored_." Lea whined, but relented. He tucked his scarf closer around his neck and shivered. Even in doors, it was still a chilly day.

"Wear a coat next time." She said unsympathetically.

"Who are you, my mother?" Lea snapped back.

"How may I help you?" Ansem said loudly to dispel argument.

Aqua checked to make sure the others were completely engrossed in their own conversation before moving them out of their line of sight. Lea followed curiously, hell bent on being clued in to whatever Aqua was planning.

"You know what the Mark of Mastery is?" she asked them both as Leo flopped onto his side on the floor, making the corridor vibrate.

"That thing Riku passed and Sora didn't," Lea sniggered.

"I am familiar with the term." Ansem said.

"Well, if I said would you like to be a witness to the exam, what would you say?"

"I'd say," Lea leant over dramatically so Aqua had to take a step back to keep him from being in her face. "Tell me more!"

"You get no say in the matter," she jabbed him in the chest and pushed him away.

"I find this intriguing." Ansem said with a smile. "Do you have a candidate in mind?"

"Candi_dates_." Aqua verified.

"What are you up to?" Lea asked, arms folded and head cocked to one side.

XOXOX

Riku patted Leo's nose as Sora did a cartwheel and crashed into Ven, sending them both tumbling to the floor in a heap. Lea bounced past, pushing them down again as they tried to get up, and they initiated a battle using their keyblades and as many curses as they could think of. Aqua was wandering from group to group; stopping to admire the pretty little tune Kyo and Mel were playing together on a pair of flutes. Mel had borrowed hers, while Kyo had produced his from his pocket – it looked a bit like a wishbone, and it had a much deeper, richer range of notes. Kairi was perched on Leo's back, scratching his shoulders to his great delight, and Terra was tucked up in a corner set aside from the rest of them talking to the elusive Cloud, who Riku had seen very little of so far.

"Hey," Aqua called over the noise to make her presence known.

"Hey," Riku said dully, trying to ignore the others.

Lea was dancing circles around Sora, who was getting slowly angrier as he sang, "I know something you don't!"

"Like I'm falling for that one!" Sora shouted at him, completely falling for it.

"I know something you d-argh!" he bent double as Ven got his keyblade around the man's neck and tried to garrotte him.

"Behave!" Aqua shouted at them through force of habit. "Anyway. Riku, Kairi. I need to ask a favour."

"Sure," Kairi slid from Leo's back and came to stand next to her. "Anything."

"Isn't that one of Phil's hero rules – never make a promise if you don't know you can keep it?" Riku smirked and winced as Kairi tugged at a lock of his hair. "Ouch!"

"Shut up,"

Aqua waved a hand to placate them both before she smiled brilliantly and said, "I need some help with something."

"Yeah?" Riku recognised that look, and grinned back. "What are you planning?"

"Well, in view of the progress everyone has made recently, I am considering holding an exam."

"All right," Riku folded his arms and looked Aqua full in the face, his eyes darting aside to watch Sora and Ven tussle with Lea. He guessed where this was going.

"You're going to have a Mark of Mastery?" Kairi asked, wide eyed.

"Sssh! Keep your voice down," Riku hissed at her.

"Exactly. I think Ven can have a shot at it. And Terra and Sora deserve a second chance, too. Kairi, I don't think you, Lea or Mel are ready to take the exam just yet," she said apologetically. "I thought I should let you three know that. But," she added with a smile. "I'm going to need your help with running the exam."

"What do you need us to do?" Riku asked earnestly.

"Well, it's a test of more than just strength, and I have a few ideas, but I'm going to need help setting it up, and I'm going to need some participation."

"It's a test of heart," Kairi said suddenly, and they both turned to look at her. "Right?"

Leo exhaled loudly and started grooming her hair, making Kairi giggle.

"Yes. Which is why I need you."

"Tell us what to do." Riku said decisively.

Aqua chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Nothing's set in stone yet,"

They started discussing in low voices some options, throwing ideas around until Yuffie strode with purpose into the middle of the courtyard they had been filling outside one of the houses that belonged the to Committee. She stood tall and straight before filling her lungs and shouting at Sora and Ven, making them jump and trip over themselves in alarm.

"THROWING OUT TIME! ALL KEYBLADERS – CLEAR OFF!"

"I'M RIGHT HERE YUFFIE!" Sora shouted back, shaking her. "NO NEED TO SHOUT!"

"Be quiet," Aqua said loudly, nursing her skull and possibly a headache.

Riku punched Sora's shoulder as he walked past, smirking.

"And what's up with _you_?" Sora snapped at him, scowling.

Riku grinned at him, and in a soft voice echoed Lea's earlier song. "I know something _you_ don't."

"Not you too!" Sora whined. "Why don't you love me?"

"With a face like that?"

"Kairi! We're leaving!" Sora shouted over the noise of the others packing up, stalking away from him. Riku followed, snickering to himself. Sora just made it too easy for him to wind him up…

"Thanks," Terra was saying, shaking Cloud's hand before the blonde man departed with a curt nod, just as a large group of people came round the corner and flooded into the small courtyard. "Doesn't like crowds," Terra concluded to Mel, who was fitting a mouthpiece to Kyo's flute. "What's that?"

"Kyo hasn't been looking after it as well as he could be," she said, reaching a hand out and a moment later grabbing Kyo as he bounced past on his way to pester someone new. "You really need to take care of this, Grandpa wouldn't like it if it got damaged so you couldn't play anymore."

"I don't have the right tools." Kyo said forlornly as they shuffled out of the way of the tide of people.

Riku looked up at Terra, the sun glancing off the roofs around them and reflecting off his face. It was like looking at the calm sea left after a storm. He noticed Riku's gaze and tilted his head, giving him a questioning look.

"Something wrong, grasshopper?" he asked slyly.

"Shouldn't _I_ be saying that to you?" Riku asked, tapping the little badge fixed to the collar of his jacket – the one outward sign he would accept and wear openly that ranked him higher than Terra.

"Don't push it," Terra said playfully, mussing up Riku's hair with both hands. "I still have a trump card!"

"Like?" Riku grunted, trying to flatten his hair again.

"_I_ was born first."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Okay, you win."

"Hey grumpy guts!" Terra said brightly as Leo trundled over, carefully avoiding stepping on anyone as he went. "How are we feeling?"

Leo gave him a disgusted look and turned his back on them, stalking off.

"Well that was mean." Sora said loudly, watching the proceedings.

"I thought you weren't talking to me." Riku said mockingly.

"I said we're going _home_!" Sora stormed at him, marching over and grabbing him by the wrist. "And I'm not wasting my time again looking for you if you get lost! So you're coming with me _now_ whether you like it or not!"

"Who went and made _you_ Master of the Keyblade?" Riku said, trying to rip from Sora's grip, but he had a fist like iron.

"I had a keyblade before you! Back before it was cool. I win!"

"I was born first," Riku said flatly, Terra sniggering behind his hand before Ven struck him. "I win by default."

"My hair's softer than yours!" Sora challenged him.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

They were right up in each other's faces, about to start a fistfight, when Kairi wandered past with ice cream in her hands. Sora's eyes followed her, fixed on the soft, cold treats despite the frigid air around them. He followed with a second thought, leaving Riku behind.

"Oh sure!" Riku called to his retreating back. "Do a big number about never leaving anyone behind, but the moment you factor ice cream in-!" no one as listening. "Fine, _be_ that way. See if _I_ care!"

Sora scuttled back over and Riku reluctantly opened his eyes to scowl at him. He would never admit it out loud to anyone, especially Sora, but the wide eyed and innocent look on his face, and the ice cream that was held out to him, melted Riku's frigid heart.

"It's ice cream. It's full of sweet sugary _goodness_. I only abandoned you so I could get it for you."

"Guys, if you goof around any longer I'm leaving you here and going home myself!" Kairi shouted at them from the gateway.

"Remember how she nearly crashed into that ship last time?" Riku reminded Sora.

They both looked at each other with deadly seriousness before pelting after her.

"See ya later!" Sora shouted at the others, waving before they disappeared form sight.

"Bye!" Ven yelled after them.

"She wouldn't really," Riku said as they ran through the maze of back streets and alleyways to get to their gummi ship.

"I dunno. She's tried it before…"

They heard a revving noise as they approached the place their ship was parked, and they shared a look before pelting after it.

_She would_…

Riku was about to turn a corner with Sora to reach the place the ship was waiting for them, when he saw something from the corner of his eye that made him skid to a halt, sliding on the icy ground. It was like a shadow, but it stilled instantly and became a part of the wall on which it had been cast. Frowning, Riku went over to investigate, ignoring Sora's calls when he failed to turn up right behind him. There was definitely _something_ behind that crate in the corner of the street… He edged closer and twitched the corner of the tarp that was laid over it, and the crate seemed to explode with a bundle of pitch-black feathers.

Riku yelled and dived out of the way as the bird tried to claw at his face, cawing loudly and leaving long gashes on the backs of his hands. Then it flew off down the street, and Riku heard Sora yelp as it attacked him as well. The crow shot off like an arrow into the sky, and was lost among the scudding dull clouds that were threatening rain. Panting, Riku wandered back to Sora, who was looking at his ice cream, belly up on the cobbled street.

"Aww man!" he slumped in defeat, as if he hadn't just been set upon by a manic bird.

"C'mon Sora, it's just an ice cream." Riku tried to reason with him, but Sora wouldn't be consoled.

"But-!" he looked up from the disaster before them. "Kairi bought that for me…!"

"Shut up," Riku said, walking past and taking care to avoid the sticky mess by Sora's feet, shoving his own and untouched ice cream into Sora's mouth. "Let's get going before Kairi destroys the town."

"Mmmph!" Sora spun on his back leg and hurried after Riku.

"Don't run with that in your mouth!" he snapped. "What'll I tell your mom if I bring you back with a stick through your brain? Oh sorry! You're only son was stupid enough to launch this into his brain and he's _beyond useless _now!"

"Thanks Riku!" Sora grinned, slurping on the ice cream as they approached the ship.

Kairi was waiting for them, tapping her toes impatiently. Then suddenly Sora groaned and put a hand to his head, almost collapsing. The two of them rushed to his side with concern, but Riku nearly kicked him when he moaned, "Brain freeze!"

"Idiot!" he hissed, and jumped when Sora shook himself out of it with a gasp.

"Riku! Your hand!"

There was a fine red line of blood trickling down the back of his hand.

"Oh," he raised it up for closer inspection, and shrugged, prepared to lick it clean when Kairi grabbed him by the wrist. "Hey!"

"Don't do that! What if it's infected? Come on, there's a first aid box in the cockpit…"

They were about to finally board the ship when Sora stopped and spun round again, searching for something.

"What's up?" Riku called, and Sora turned to him with a perturbed expression. "Sora?"

"I…thought I saw something," he looked over his shoulder again, frowning. "Must be imagining things."

"What was it?" Riku asked as Sora walked over to the ship.

"Kinda reminded me of Pete, but it was just that shadow from those trash bags over there." Riku frowned and tried to get a better look, but as he stepped back onto the street Sora called his name again, and he hesitated. "It's just a trick of the light, Riku. C'mon! Let's go home."

Riku didn't feel convinced, and as he turned to leave – sure enough the shadows flickered again, stilling the moment he looked back.

"Could've sworn…" he murmured to himself. A chill wind that felt as if it had nothing to do with the cold weather ripped through the square and matrix of alleyways, the temperature even in the glaring sunlight dropping a few degrees. Riku shivered involuntarily, wondering what was going on out there that was beyond his field of vision.

"Okay, closing the hatch now!" Kairi shouted at him, and he yelped, rushing into their ship to avoid getting locked out, the moment of contemplation shattered.

Kairi grinned unrepentantly and handed him a fresh ice cream. "Sora told me the tragic and epic tale of how he lost his and you nobly sacrificed your own so he could still have some."

"It wasn't that epic," Riku insisted, shovelling the ice cream into his mouth before she could change her mind.

"Anything with ice cream in it is _epic_!" Sora crowed, and then added, "I'm driving!"

"No way!" Riku threw him out of the way and raced up the stairs.

"Hey! I called shot gun!"

"Guys…" Kairi sighed, massaging her temples as the two boys fought their way to the cockpit, laughing as they went.

XOXOX

"I thought this was supposed to be an exercise in stealth." Tomasa said dully.

Pete glowered at the boy and stomped along the alleyway. "You just keep your trap shut!" It irked him greatly that he had been stuck on patrol duty, to give this little punk 'orienteering'. He didn't especially _like_ Tomasa – the kid was pretty quiet, and quite snarky when he chose to speak, with little to no respect for his elders.

"You were nearly seen by two people in rapid succession."

"And did those nitwits come looking for us? No! Pipe down already – Oop!"

They both scuttled out of the way into the shadows again as they heard footsteps and voices. The scrawny blonde kid Ventus, or who ever he was, ran down the street and stopped in a patch of sunlight from another connecting alley, rubbing his arms and breathing tendrils of smoke into the air before shouting back the way he came. "Hurry up! I'm freezing!"

The blue haired woman followed at a fast pace, hunched over against the cold with a tall red haired boy Pete guessed was Tomasa's little cousin. Not so little, really – he was probably taller than Tomasa. He bounced along beside Aqua as she berated Ventus for running ahead and complaining.

Tomasa's sharp intake of breath could have given them away, so Pete slammed a hand over his mouth, nearly knocking a stack of boxes over in the process. Only the dragon seemed to notice this, trailing behind Aqua and the cousin…what was his name again? The dragon was about to come and investigate, but it yelped and raced ahead, knocking blondie over.

"C'mon, Leo. Time's a'wastin'!"

"That sound's like a cheesy line from a cheesy movie – and too much cheese is bad for the heart, Terra!"

"Kyo, you don't need to shout." Said the tiny woman with the long blonde hair, Tomasa's other cousin.

"But he's _waaaaay_ over there!" the boy pointed.

Mel leant forward with a finger to her lips. "Indoor voices, Kyo."

Pete waited until they had walked on, and then went to follow them. "Let's not," Tomasa said, pulling a face and turning away. "Let's just go back now."

"Nuh-uh!" Pete took him roughly by the shoulder and dragged him along. "Orders are orders! Besides, Maleficent wants the low down on that there dragon of the keyblade! And the best way to do that is to follow. Capiche?"

"Fine." Tomasa said shortly, shaking off his hold and walking sedately by his side.

In a small square right at the edge of town they all got ready to leave. Kyo fought against putting on a Black Coat, complaining it smelt of garlic while Mel resolutely wrestled him into it. The others donned their armour and summoned those weird yet oddly cool gliders; the dragon had its own set of armour, and Mel carefully used a harness to clip herself and her brother onto the saddle before the portal to the lanes between was opened. The dragon raised its wings and crouched low for a moment, before bring them down with a powerful beat that launched it into the air, and the other keyblade wielders flew around it in a sort of convoy as they rose towards the portal – and then they were gone, as if they had never been there at all.

"Well now, that's interestin'." Pete said to himself, taking out a piece of paper and a pencil to write down what he had seen.

"So? Keyblade Dragon. Keyblade Armour. Goes without saying he'd have his own set." Tomasa quipped.

"Can it," Pete snapped.

"Why do all this covert stuff? They've got this book Mels showed me about the dragon. Apparently there've been loads in the past."

Pete turned slowly to look at Tomasa, as if for the first time. "Ya don't say?"

"Yeah. And she had this box she showed me with some stuff in if from when he was a baby."

"Why didn't ya tell me this before?" Pete demanded, snapping his fingers to summon a portal so they could go back to HQ.

"Where are we going? I thought you said we had to do recon."

"Maleficent needs to hear about this. Well don't just stand there Tom! Get movin."

"That's _Tomasa_ to you." He snapped back, pulling his hood up and stepping in front of him.

"Yeah, yeah."

Maleficent was annoyed at first when they arrived well ahead of schedule, but then intrigued by what Tomasa had to say about his brief spell in the Land of Departure. She spent a while listening, and then even longer deliberating over the possibilities while Pete shuffled around anxiously and Tomasa sat rigidly in his chair – Pete didn't blame the kid; Maleficent could be quite scary.

"And why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked in a silkily smooth voice that could have been praise or could have been a warning signal.

"I didn't know you were interested in Leo. What do you want with him anyway?"

"I have a certain fascination for the keyblade. And to find tell of a dragon, tied to the keyblade – it is no mere coincidence. I want to see this power for myself."

"But that thing's too heavily protected," Pete interrupted. "It's always surrounded by those keybladers. And it's pretty strong itself – it'll be nearly impossible to get the jump on it!"

"Well, do what you said we should do." Tomasa said, and they both turned to look at him, seated at the large round table with his dark hair shading his eyes as his watched his trailing hand paint a sprawling pattern on the table top – the rhyme and reason only understood by him. "Recon. Find out as much as we can about Leo, and then figure out a way to isolate him."

"Heh – I like the way this kid thinks!" Pete chuckled.

"Silence," Maleficent fixed his with a stony, withering glare. "Now then, my dear," she went on more softly to Tomasa, but he stood up sharply and she appraised him coolly.

"You won't hurt Mel or Kyo, right? Or Leo."

"Peh!" Pete laughed, but was silenced with a look.

"I promise, that as long as you do what I ask, no harm will come to either of them."

"That's not good enough." Tomasa said stubbornly, and Pete took a big step back. It was never a good idea to size up to Maleficent… "I don't agree with them, but they're still my family! I won't let them get hurt by anyone!"

Maleficent was silent for a long time, and then she walked slowly with purpose towards Tomasa until she was right in front of him, and he looked up at her unflinchingly – brave kid, and exceedingly stupid.

"My, my. What a strong heart you have." She crooned softly, stroking his hair while he held very still. "I can help you make it even stronger. But you must stick to your convictions. And prove to me _where your loyalties lie_. If you do exactly as I say, then there will be no need for your cousins to be in harm's way." She put a hand on his shoulder and leant forward to whisper into his ear. "Am I understood?"

Tomasa gulped, but to his credit he didn't cower away or try to run. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Then we are on an understanding. Pete!"

"What can I do for ya, boss?"

Maleficent turned and walked away from them towards the balcony, where the stormy sky outside was visible. "I want you to retrieve this book for me."

"That, err…may be a bit difficult. But!" he raised his hands in defence as she turned on him. "It'll just take some time – that place isn't always left unguarded! And even when it is it's not for long! And I'd need to know the right place to look-!"

"Stop your snivelling." She said coldly. "Pete, I want you to find the opportune moment to raid their castle, and then I want you Tomasa, to go in and get me that book. And the box as well. I don't care how long it takes as long as I get those objects. Understand!"

"You bet!"

"Yes, ma'am."

XOXOX

"You sure?" Mel asked, straightening Kyo's collar and smoothing his hair back.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides! I really like Master Ansem – he's _cool_."

"You like his lab." She corrected him with a smile.

Leo made a humming noise in his throat, beating his tail against the ground before running his teeth through the boy's hair one last time. Kyo giggled and ducked out of the way before scratching the dragon's neck. They stopped and looked up as Ansem the Wise approached them across the postern.

Terra felt a bit sorry for them, but Kyo had insisted on getting out from under their feet – less than a week after being reunited, Mel and Kyo were being parted again. But, as Mel had said, handing her brother a small stud earring she had managed to get hold of, they wouldn't be too far and they knew where each other would be. The little earring she had found was shaped like a five-pointed star, like a wayfinder, and Kyo wore it now in the top of his left ear, as did Mel in her right ear. Kyo had really liked the story about the paopu fruit, and was delighted to be a part of the circle.

"Good morning," Ansem said pleasantly.

"Hello again!"

"Hi!" Kyo waved happily, picking his bag up and folding his Black Coat neatly. "Here," he tried to give it to Mel, but she pushed it back into his hands.

"Keep it. I have my armour, and you never know when you might need it."

"Gees Mel, I'm not jumping into the darkness or anything, and this place's too light to worry about that sort of thing!" he flushed.

"Then keep it, for the sake of my sanity, if nothing else."

"Okay! I don't want you to go insane. That would be really bad."

Mel smiled and gave him one last hug, kissing the crown of his head before she nudged him along towards Ansem. He smiled at them, and Kyo grinned back.

"I promise to take good care of your brother." He said solemnly.

"Please. I'm counting on you." She said, looking a little bit tearful – Aqua put an arm around her shoulders as Ven took a step forward, flanked by Leo.

"Cause if you don't, you'll be hearing from _us_!" he said teasingly, Leo snapping his jaws purely for effect.

Ansem chuckled, and bowed deeply to Mel. "On my honour as a scholar."

"See ya!" Kyo waved at them again. "And thanks for having me. And Terra?" he added, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "Look after Mel for me, 'kay? I'm not the only one who needs watching."

Mel started, but Terra laughed and ruffled her hair. While she was smoothing the mess out he said, "Promise!"

Kyo stood in the same clothes he had worn when he first arrived – the dirt had been washed away, but his jeans and shirt were still stained from years of travel. His slightly too-big clothes hung awkwardly off his frame, and he looked like a child about to embark on some big adventure. They said their goodbyes, and had almost left him when he dumped his bag and ran back to Mel, flinging his arms around her and lifting her off the ground. When he eventually let go and they parted, Terra saw her hastily wiping a tear away, and he slung an arm around her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she insisted, using her sleeve to dry her eyes.

"He'll be fine. Ansem and the others will take care of him."

"Guys!" Ven shouted at them, already halfway across the postern. "Remember that meeting Aqua was holding today? Let's _go_!"

When they finally traipsed back home over the threshold, Mel still a little bit tearful, Terra was surprised to find Lea and Riku waiting for them. Lea berated them about being late before stalking up stairs to the great hall, where Sora and Kairi were waiting with King Mickey and Master Yen Sid; Donald was arguing with Sora over something while Goofy waved his hands and tried to calm the situation down.

"What's all this?" Terra asked, stunned. Aqua had said, 'meeting' and not 'council or war' – which was what this looked like.

"Places, please," Aqua called, bringing up the rear of the returning party with Leo.

They all lined up formally in front of the dais, from left to right was Terra, Ven, Sora, Mel, Lea, and Kairi at the end. Leo settled himself down behind them, sat back on his haunches with his wings extended either side so he seemed to take up even more room. Mickey was seated on one of the thrones, flanked by Donald and Goofy; Master Yen Sid in another, and Aqua and Riku stood in front of the third, surveying the group before them. Leo coughed, and recoiled from the look he received.

"I have gathered you all here for a reason." Aqua said loudly. She would have made an impressive image as a Master of the Keyblade if she didn't let her anxiety show – he had known her so long, all the little signs were there; the tilt to her head, the way her eyes were settling on the space above their heads as opposed to on their faces, and the way she fidgeted with her sleeves. "We are fortunate to have many apprentices gathered here, each chosen to wield the keyblade." She turned her attention to Terra, Ven and Sora and called their names. "Step forward."

Terra blinked, and exchanged looks with Ven; Sora had already stepped forward, perplexed. They followed suit, and Sora caught Riku's eye – they exchanged grins.

Looking to Aqua for his cue, Riku stepped forward to deliver his own speech. "Chosen wielders of the keyblade!" he started off with a strong and confident voice, but stumbled when Sora sniggered, setting Ven off too until Leo whacked them both smart round the back of the head with his tail. Terra stifled his own snort of laughter at the look on Ven's face. "We have made the decision, to hold the Mark of Mastery Exam for these three apprentices."

Terra blinked, letting the information sink in. Mark of Mastery? He'd be taking it with Ven! He grinned, and turned to see Ven with an identical grin to his. He did a little dance and fist pumped the air saying, "Yes!"

"You have a month to prepare in any way you see fit. You can ask for any training you wish, and train with anyone you chose – but you may not ask what the test will entail." Aqua said, unable to control her own smile. "You are dismissed!"

"Woohoo!" Sora jumped in the air in celebration.

"You haven't even sat the test yet," Lea said derisively, smirking.

"Who cares!" Sora crowed, undeterred.

"We're gonna be Masters!" Ven shouted. "Remember? Just like our dream!"

"Yeah!" Terra felt the excitement mounting – he might as well be a kid again. Sora's enthusiasm was quite infectious.

"Hey! We gotta start training!" Sora said, shaking Terra's arm in earnest. "Riku! Spar with me!" he shouted, running to the dais.

Terra felt something poke him in the ribs, and turned to see Mel stood beside him, Leo hanging over her shoulder, eyes bright with humour as Kairi and bounced as energetically as Sora. "Good luck. I'm sure you don't need it,"

"We'll take all the luck we can get!" Ven grinned. "We're gonna be Masters!"

Aqua made her way over to them, grinning from ear to ear. "Sorry to keep the surprise. I had to wait to formally announce it-"

Ven squealed with delight and flung his arms around her, nearly knocking her off her feet. "We're gonna be Keyblade Masters! Together!"

Terra wrapped his arms around the both of them, holding them close. His two oldest, bestest friends – it didn't matter what had happened in the past, what any of them had done or had been done to them. He was adamant, that he and Ven would pass – and they could be Masters together, just like they had dreamed they would. He looked up, over the top of Ven's head to see Mel standing with Leo a few paces away.

The young dragon was sat back on his hind legs, his shoulders back and tall, but he had lowered his head and neck so it was level with Mel's; his large eyes were closed, and he hummed contentedly as he slowly flexed his wings and tail, the purple spots showing vividly against the raven backdrop of his feathered body. Mel stroked his face, looking up at him before she turned her gaze to Terra. Their eyes met, and she smiled, leaning her cheek against Leo's muzzle and hugging him close. Terra grinned back, giving Aqua and Ven a loving squeeze.

"Together!" Ven said, leaning back just enough so he could see Terra's face, his smile impossibly wide.

Terra reached into his pocket and produced his wayfinder, holding it up to the light caught it just right to offset the colours.

"_Always_!"

XOXOX


	11. Conflict in James Town

**AN: I apologise for the delay in this update – I had a bit of a down turn in my health and it took a while to rally myself back to the task of writing :) I once again owe a massive thanks and a huge virtual chocolate cake to **HeartofFyrwinde **for being awesome and essentially handing me the plot to this chapter on a silver platter when I hit a massive writer's block! :D and also for bouncing ideas around with me for the wider story plot in general :) If you have the time go check out their stories too – search the penname or find links in my profile.**

**And without further adieu, I present the next chapter! (finally ;) )**

_**Conflict in James Town**_

Tomasa strode across the campsite with a confidence he didn't feel inside. The men around him were thick and burly, with bugling muscles and searching looks – it reminded him of Mel's father, and it made him shudder. He tried to block out the thoughts in his head, but Kyo's voice rose unbidden in his mind, saying silly things like, "Too bad their brains are in their biceps!" before making a face and pretending to vomit onto his shoes. It almost brought a smile to Tomasa's lips, but not quite – it was still painful to think…

He left the encampment, shaking his head violently, and made his way through the trees, forcing himself back to the present and focusing on the discussion he had just had. He entered a clearing a few minutes walk away from the British camp and waited for Pete to crawl out of the shadows. Tomasa didn't like Pete very much, mainly because he was always talking down to him and being a general knob.

"So? How'd it go?"

"Ratcliff's in. I still don't see why we should be siding with the git." He didn't like any of the guys Pete had been approaching for Maleficent, and not many had been taking the bait they dangled before them – one such individual who had dealt with Pete before had point blank refused to listen to anything they had to say. The soldiers here had chased Pete off because of his cat like features, screaming about demons and savages, so Tomasa had had to go in and do the negotiations himself. He didn't have the gift of the gab, and he didn't have that easy, natural way of dealing with people like Kyo did, so it had been quite tense – but Ratcliff had agreed. Tomasa wondered what Mel would have made of the man, probably would have demanded to know what the hell he was playing at, messing around with the pompous fat git…

"That's nothin' for you to worry about now." Pete said bracingly. "You've done your bit, now it's my turn."

"So what do I do now?"

"Go back to HQ. You're still not strong enough to command the heartless."

Tomasa wasn't in a mood to argue, so he stood by and waited for a portal to be opened for him before he walked listlessly through it. Pete could play whatever game he wanted, but Tomasa wasn't going to let himself become a pawn. Maleficent hadn't stated clearly that he was to do the 'dirty work' as far as the heartless were concerned. He was just…floating, for now. But sooner or later he was going to have to do something, and his heart rebelled against his mind and prayed Mel and Kyo weren't in his way when he had to start moving. Even though Maleficent promised they wouldn't be hurt…

_No_. He would make sure if that happened he would be strong enough to stop it.

XOXOX

Leo shrieked and tried to block the way down the stairs, eyes wide and horrified as Mel tried to leave. Aqua sighed and closed her eyes, fingers massaging her temple. He had become oddly temperamental of late; he fell asleep early at night and woke up very late, and he had odd mood swings that made him deliriously happy like his younger self, and then a brooding, menacing presence five seconds later. He couldn't make up his own mind how he felt, and had taken to snapping at people's hands and face until he got bopped on the nose in retaliation, which seemed to warn him off trying to actually bite them. She almost wished he was a hatchling again so she could shove him in the little canvas bag, or pick him up in her arms and still his movements before he hurt himself. Now of course, he was too big to do much damage to himself – only to the others and the objects around him.

They were going on a mission today – to another world. Ven and Sora would be getting some extra training in at the same time as doing recon for Yen Sid, and Aqua would be helping Terra with some magic practise. Mel was coming along for two reasons: first, she _really_, really wanted to go; and second, to make it less conspicuous what Riku and Kairi were going to be up to in the mean time. The excuse was so that the castle was being watched, and of course Leo too (if he didn't flatten it first). The three boys were so wrapped up in their preparations that they gave it little to no thought at all, which made things easier.

Only Leo was now barring their way…

He was alarmed that Mel was leaving this world without him. He may have grown and matured a lot in the nearly half a year he had been alive, but he still had expectations that had until now always been met – Mel _never_ left him alone in this world, only with Master Ansem in Radiant Garden and then only for a short time. He wasn't taking it well, and while she tried to dodge around him and get to the courtyard below, they were wasting time.

"Leo, I'll be back at the end of the day. I promise," she tried to stroke his nose soothingly, but he keened loudly at her, eyes closed and trying to look as pathetic as possible in the hopes he would sway her heart. He sat down in a heap and sulked when her heart failed to swoon in response. "It's all right, look! Riku and Kairi are here, you won't be alone. I'm helping the guys get ready for their exam. It's _really_ important."

"We'll bring her back in one piece, promise!" Sora insisted brightly.

Leo fixed him with a steely gaze and snorted loudly. In the end, he relented long enough for Mel and Terra to squeeze past, and they all mounted up and left before he could change his mind. Riku was going to pick up Cid and Lea with the gummi ship, so they could help with the work that needed doing, and Sora naively didn't question this choice. In the tense moment when Aqua thought they were busted, Sora said happily, "Is using the gliders instead of the ship another part of the training?" And Riku had leapt on the excuse Sora had so readily presented for him, steering conversation away from dangerous waters that would expose them all.

In the world they landed in, they found themselves in a thick forest of tall trees, and Mel wandered off instantly to take a look around. Aqua set about pairing them up to do exercises and keep an eye out for the heartless. Sora and Ven bounced off happily together to scout out the terrain, and Aqua decided to let Terra have a wander too before she started drilling him with magic exercises.

It was a beautiful landscape; the forest was peaceful, and a wide river ran past where they were, before it joined the sea not far away. Aqua could hear the gulls and smell the salt in the air – a pleasant and familiar tang. She followed the course of the river, listening to Mel tell Terra about the medicine of the salmon and the qualities associated with the animal, the river teeming with the fish. She rounded a corner, waving at them and only walking further when they acknowledged her, so they knew where she was going. Squirrels chattered in the trees, and small animals scampered across the leaf litter – it was so tranquil she almost decided to call off the training for the day so they could relax in the light of this world. Almost… But not quite. She owed it to Terra and Ven, and to Sora too, to help them as best she could.

A thought occurred to her as she carefully jumped over a fallen log, checking for snakes and spiders (Mel had drummed it into their heads after Ven got a particularly nasty bite that put him out of commission for a week, to always, _always_ check before you leaped). After the exam, after they became Masters in their own right, if they wanted they could leave her and travel on their own. She pulled a face at the thought; she didn't think either of them would leave, and Sora wasn't about to up and leave Riku and Kairi either. Ven would want to travel and see the worlds, but he'd be too drawn to home to want to leave permanently, not for a few years anyway. Terra…she liked to think he'd stay, but he had a burning curiosity for the unknown too. She loved them both dearly, and the realisation that they could fly the nest and she wouldn't have a say in it at all…

A loud crack from behind her silenced her thoughts, and all sound in the forest. She drew her keyblade, taking up a ready position and waiting for whatever was out there to show itself.

The faint traces in the air as she slowly edged towards the direction of the noise suggested Darkness.

The Heartless.

XOXOX

"Amazing," Terra said, mostly to himself.

"Mhmm." Mel nodded, watching the water carefully as she jumped from stone to stone across the river. "That's why it's so important to give back what you take." She had been explaining the link between salmon runs and the nutrition of the forests – the belief of some people that the carcases of salmon had to be thrown back to the river so the spirits of the adults could guide the young back to the sea when they hatched. What happened on the concrete level was the decomposition of the bodies, and the nitrogen that nourished and fuelled the growth of plant life around the rivers. Even with his ever-increasing knowledge of the so-called 'paranormal', Terra had been sceptical until Mel pointed this little scientific nugget.

"Don't you ever think there are too many links?" he asked, looking down and treading carefully in her wake, fish leaping and diving around his feet. "Like everything is suspended in a tight web of energy – not much lee way,"

"Not really," Mel had to stop and spread her arms to maintain balance before setting off again after a small nudge from Terra. "It doesn't work that way. Links are only solidly binding if you let them."

"I don't really get your magic," he admitted. Terra had been wondering if he could learn some for himself, but he hadn't had much luck trying to figure it out on his own, and he was too busy getting worked up about the exam to give much thought to asking for lessons just yet.

"I'm not sure I get it either." She climbed onto a large boulder in the middle of the river and stood there on the dry rock, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun. "It's not really something you consciously learn, as such…I just picked it up bit by bit, and what one person told me tied in with what another said. So I took the pieces that made the most sense and then I figured I had what I needed."

"Is it even magic?" Terra tried to follow, and slipped up in the water as a particularly huge fish crashed into his leg as he tried to balance on it. He felt chagrined when Mel waded over to help him up, but laughed when she raised her eyebrows.

"I don't know. It's certainly energetics. Mostly, it's all in your head." She tapped her forehead."

Terra frowned. "That's what I don't really get…"

"Okay, look at it this way – if you think or feel something, or _for_ something, strongly enough – it will happen. Or at the very least providence lends you the tools you need. Like this," she waded out into the currents of the water and crouched down, her hand under the water and waited patiently. "I don't really care what happens at the moment, my power of intent is focused else where – it doesn't matter if I catch anything or not." She tried several times to catch an unsuspecting fish, taking great care physically with her movements and her timing, but she couldn't catch a single one, and ended up falling over with a loud splash, making Terra laugh.

"So what's your point?" he said teasingly as she got up for the third time.

"Now," she said pointing at him with a gleam in her eye, "I'm treating it like its life or death. Everyone's dead, I'm going to starve and die as well if I don't get something to eat. My power of intent is: _I am going to catch a fish_." And she crouched down again in the same place, but this time there was something in her eyes that was completely different – her movements and timing were still the same, only this time after about thirty seconds she lunged and lifted a large salmon into the air, wriggling in protest from being removed from its element. "See fish?" she asked, pointing at it. "There you go," she gently lowered it into the river, and it darted off inland with the others. Mel tried again, and not ten seconds later had caught an even bigger one. After she did this a further three times she placed the fish back into the water and stood up, completely soaked through.

"Impressive," Terra said, wanting to tease her but not finding a witty enough remark. "How did you do that?"

"Focused power of intent," she said, tapping her temple. "I told myself I _was_ going to catch a fish, and I did. Before I wasn't fussed and I wasn't focusing my intentions to it. It's also the law of attraction – positivity attracts positivity; negativity attracts negativity. You seek to catch the salmon for no other reason than to kill them and take no nourishment, you're asking for…say a bear or something to do the same to you. That's a bit of an extreme example… But if you're after the food to keep yourself alive, and to help others, whatever you need will be provided for you, providing that you take just what you need, and give back what you can when you can."

Terra grinned at her. "How about I just keep you as my conscience?" It should have been annoying the way everything she said made sense to him, but he couldn't bring himself to taunt her over it. Ven was easy to wind up, and he was just as happy to dish it out in return – Aqua was equally entertaining to rile up, even if he was in love with her; it was a game to see who could annoy who the fastest, a part of their childhood and something they had never grown out of, a part of their relationship that would remain the same forever.

And then there was Mel. Small, slight, and so incredibly strong – he just couldn't abuse her the same way he abused Ven or the others.

"I don't really think you need me for that." She said, arms spread wide in a gesture that reminded him of Kyo; her feet planted firmly on the pebble strewn river bed, Mel dipped forward in a sort of bow, shifting her weight onto the sides of her feet instead before raising her head. "Flattering as your faith in me is,"

They both laughed – they were being absurd. They trudged back across the river to the place where they had parted from Aqua, and got ready to go look for her, when Mel stilled. Terra turned to ask her what was wrong, but she stiffened right before she flung herself to the ground yelling, "Duck!"

In the time it took for Terra to blink and comply, he heard an ominous _whiz_ and _thock_ above his head, and when he looked up he saw an arrow quivering in the tree beside him, exactly where his throat had been moments before. He summoned his keyblade and rolled out of the way as a spear landed where his knee had been. Mel raised a palling around them so they could gather their wits in relative safety, and not a moment to soon as two more arrows glanced off the shield the moment it was erected.

Terra was about to suggest fighting back at their unseen attackers, when something came crashing through the trees and nearly knocked them over before chasing after the source of the arrows. A strangled cry was heard just as the creature threw its head back and flung a man in animal skins from his perch in a tree on the other side of the river.

"Look!" Mel called, waving at the creature as it paused in its rampage to roar at them angrily. It looked like a black coloured bear, but misshapen and twisted with horrible, hollow yellow eyes and vivid streaks of red and yellow across its bulky body like a parody of a poisonous insect – and it had a heartless symbol blazing from between its shoulder blades.

"That's our cue!" Terra said, hefting his blade up and charging towards the heartless through the shield.

It was exceptionally difficult, possibly because it was just the two of them, and possibly because Mel took a back seat in favour of standing over the wounded man to protect him from further injury. There were three other hunters of the same ilk as he, but they were no match for the heartless. It tore the riverbed up, flattened a few trees, and at one point got its teeth into Terra's arm, only just missing breaking the skin because of the leather and metal protecting him, and also because he was well practised at evading Leo and his antics. He snarled as it roared at him, trying to take him down by brute force. Something Kyo had said to him flashed across Terra's mind about the heartless being attracted to a heavily guarded heart, and it gave him an idea. Rather than press back and fight strength with strength, he gave way and it pushed him down into the water, below the surface with a yelp of surprise – completely unprepared for the change of behaviour in its prey. Reaching up blindly Terra struck out at the place where the heart should have been.

The heartless wasn't defeated, but it was immobilised for a moment, and a sudden surge in the currents carried it downstream towards the sea. It got to its feet, shaking its massive grizzly head, but Mel flung an orb of harsh white light at it, and the heartless growled before it careened off towards the open sea, away from the horrible bright light and the pounding of keyblades.

Terra staggered over to where Mel sat in the water, gently helping the man to sit up. He was falling in and out of consciousness, and she was carefully inspecting the wound on his chest while holding his head clear of the river. Terra picked him up and moved him to the bank where Mel wasted no time in setting her store of potions and medical kit on the ground. She cleaned the gaping wound out with a deft flick of her wrist and a pad of cotton soaked with water, before she dabbed some iodine rich solution into it. The man hissed and came too long enough to give her a filthy look, but she put a hand over his eyes and murmured something soft and indistinct, which made him still, more peacefully this time. He had dark, copper coloured skin and long thick black hair that had been braided in places with seashells and feathers. Terra looked up sharply when he heard the water splashing, and came face to face with a glowering man holding up a large and lethal looking spear, similar in appearance to the man on the ground but with a slightly flatter nose and a more angular chin. Terra held his arms up, keyblade in hand, and made no threatening gestures – he figured there was no need to fight to locals if they could help it. That was the first rule in the code of conduct for cross-world travellers.

Mel must have seen or at least heard them coming, but she doggedly mopped up the over flowing antiseptic solution and fitted a tight woven bandage over the wound to staunch the bleeding before tying it tightly to hold it in place. She gathered her things up, stuff them into her pockets and her satchel before she got to her feet and backed away from the man, arms raised in a similar gesture of surrender. One of the hunters dropped his bow and knife to check on his comrade, and gave Mel a curious look that was devoid of aggression of suspicion.

"You," the man with the spear trained on Terra's throat said harshly. "Come with us. _Now_."

Terra chanced a glance at Mel, who shook her head and mouthed, "_Not much of a choice_." He didn't want to surrender, but it seemed Mel was right – not a lot of choice in the matter.

They let the hunters remove their things, search through their bags and confiscate any weapons before handing the bags back, Mel's being treated with great respect. Terra owned a small clasp knife, and Mel had a pocket army knife as well as a set of darts for some bizarre reason that sometimes ended up in her bag when they went patrolling for no adequately explained reason – they were all removed and put into another bag carried by the wounded man, who had to be supported by one of his friends as they set off at a slow pace through the trees on the other side of the river.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Terra said dully, trudging through the mud behind the leading hunter, with the angry looking one behind them brandishing a spear at their backs.

"At least no one got killed." Mel said softly.

"Not yet." He looked up at the brilliantly blue sky and groaned. "Aqua's going to when she finds out…"

XOXOX

Aqua burst through the bushes, trying to get a lock on the heartless that flitted away almost as soon as she saw them. She had been attacked, and then went after them on a wild goose chase that seemed to have no end. It wasn't until she had heard a child screaming nearby that she had moved with any real sense of purpose – that sound was enough to motivate her into action.

When she reached the clearer ground by the riverside, she saw a little girl running away from the heartless that pulled and clawed at her legs, destroying a woven basket that lay on the ground in a pile of freshly picked berries. These heartless were different to the ones she had encountered before – they looked a bit like wolverines, and a few swooping down from above looked like hawks, all black with red and yellow shapes of geometric design adorning their limbs. The shrieks and cries they made were unnerving.

The girl ran into the water, which deterred a few of the smaller heartless running on all fours, but it didn't stop the larger, bear shaped one that was as high as Aqua's waist, or the feathered flyers that swooped over head. Aqua stampeded through the mud and into the water, hacking and slashing inelegantly as she flew past, making the heartless scream and dive out of her way lest they get caught by the keyblade. The smaller ones dissipated, the pink glow of a heart spiralling upwards to the sky as she cut their ranks asunder; the larger one thought twice about it before breaking off its chase to turn on Aqua instead. She hit it three times in rapid succession before hurling a blizzard attack that stunned it, right before she thrust her keyblade straight through its neck. The heartless keened loudly as it disappeared into a bubbling mass of shadows – and then nothing.

Aqua panted heavily, lifting her arm and looking up to see where the girl had gone. She was clinging to a large boulder in the middle of the river, where the water was too deep for her to stand easily and the currents were too strong. The girl was wearing a plain, roughly sewn dress of animal skins, and she had a few wooden beads braided into her hair ending with soft grey feathers that were limp and wet. She stared at Aqua with wide, terrified eyes of deepest brown, set in a face of dark, copper skin.

Trying to look less threatening, Aqua lowered her weapon and held out a hand to her. "It's all right, the monsters have gone now." She said gently, very aware of the danger the girl was in standing that deep in the fast moving water, and very unhappy with the threat of the heartless hanging over them. "It's okay, let's get you back to the bank,"

The girl baulked, and took a step back, then shuffled forward again as the water threatened to sweep her away beyond the protection of the boulder.

Aqua was about to try again when she heard a terrible roar and looked upstream towards the source. A huge, bear like animal – much larger than the heartless she had just dispatched – came barrelling down the river at a great loping pace, jaws hanging wide open in a grimace of pain and anger. It didn't notice the two people, and Aqua was glad as she threw herself out of the way, until she heard the child screaming and looked up to find her being washed away by the current. She struck out after her, letting the water carry her forward, but the heartless seemed to have finally noticed the girl and started towards her. She screamed as the huge paw came down beside her, and water crashing over her head and sweeping her under.

"No!" Aqua cried desperately, kicking against the current to angle herself so she would be swept right up against the heartless and not over shoot it and miss them. The bottom of the river was too deep for her feet to reach by now, and she had to kick against the deceptive currents below the surface that threatened to drag her under.

In the end, she only succeeded in angering the heartless, but it left them well alone after it got caught in the currents as well, and decided it didn't want to put up a fight and try to swim against the river as well. It struck out towards the widening mouth of the river that flowed straight into the sea, giving her one last baleful look over its shoulder. With the heartless gone Aqua reached for the girl as she was swept past, barely managing to keep her head above the water. She slid below the surface and Aqua dived after her, refusing to give up. The girl spluttered and coughed when they emerged, clinging to Aqua instinctively and just about holding her head high enough to avoid the waves that were starting to buffet them.

After she let the current carry them a little further and regained some of her strength somewhat, Aqua swam backwards towards the shoreline, staying on her back to make it easier to kick against the flow of water and to keep her chin above the surface. Eventually, after what felt like forever, they were picked up by a wave and dumped on the muddy beach, and Aqua collapsed in a heap, her lungs and legs burning from the effort of fighting first the river, and then the sea. The girl poked her tentatively to see if the woman was awake, and Aqua reluctantly rallied herself to her knees.

"Are you all right?" she panted, sagging against the muddy sand.

The girl nodded.

"Right, let's get back on dry land," she said, getting to her feet and taking the girl's hand. Together they walked up the beach and into the trees; on the horizon was a tendril of smoke, further along the coast, but the girl refused to step in that direction no matter how Aqua coaxed her. "Where do you live?"

"In the village." She pointed deeper into the trees, towards the northwest as opposed to the more easterly where the smoke could be seen.

"Are your family there?"

She nodded, wide-eyed and fearful, and not a bit in awe.

Aqua smiled tiredly; her hair had often been an object of fascination. Terra had been amazed when they first met, to think one's hair could be as blue as their eyes. "I'll take you there, in case there are more heartless around." She held out a hand, and the girl stared at it for a moment before looking up to meet her gaze.

"You mean those demons?"

"Yes. They are called the heartless. They won't hurt you if I'm with you."

The girl raised a hand, and hesitantly took the one proffered to her.

"My name is Aqua. What's yours?"

"Nute."

"Nice to meet you, Nute." She smiled, and the girl smiled shyly back.

The going was tough, and Nute had a bad limp that grew worse very quickly. Aqua cleaned the wound and took a large clean leaf from a plant she recognised and tied it to the girl's leg with a length of sinew Nute had on her. It didn't do much for the pain, which Aqua gave her a potion for, but it would staunch the bleeding and keep it free of dirt until they could get her to a healer; Aqua wanted to save as much manna as possible in case they were attacked again, and so forwent a curing spell in favour of a real emergency. Nute couldn't have been much older than seven, and she tired very quickly, so Aqua reached down despite her own exhaustion and hefted the girl onto her hip before setting off again. Nute squirmed at first from the close contact with the strange woman, but she soon settled down and eventually snuggled up to her embrace.

It made Aqua smile – Ven used to curl up with her like this when he was younger; she missed those times, the close and easy intimacy of her surrogate brother. He had insisted when he turned thirteen he was too old for that sort of thing, wounding her heart deeply until he found her one evening after Terra had disappeared early, and instantly cuddled up with her, promising to kill her if she mentioned it to him.

Nute was dozing when and arrow landed in front of Aqua, trembling from the force of its flight just where she had been about to place her foot. She whipped around towards the direction the feathered end was pointing, and a man cam running at her out of the trees, bearing a huge bone club.

"Wait!" Aqua cried, backing up and trying to show that her hands were free of weapons. "There's a child!"

Nute had jerked awake and she screamed again, cowering into Aqua's side, and she moved her body instinctively to protect her. The man skidded to a halt, kicking up a spray of mud and staring first in amazement, and then in a mixture of fear and gladness as he took in the child in Aqua's arms. Another man came running up behind him, but he flung an arm out to stop him. The new comer was taller, with a thicker torso rippling with muscles and two large ochre coloured bear paw prints across his breastbone. He wanted to lash out at Aqua, but the first man physically put himself in between them, saying something that she didn't quite catch.

Then when both men had calmed down, he turned to them with his arms outstretched and said, "Nute!"

The girl wriggled around to get a better look, and screamed, "Pacco!" before scrambling down from Aqua's arms and running to him. He lifted her off the ground and hugged her, murmuring soothingly while she hugged him back fiercely.

Aqua smiled at the touching scene, but she was jolted back to reality as the man with the paw marks rounded on her. She stepped back, raising her hands in surrender, and tried to affect a calm expression as her mind raced.

"Stop! Kocoum," Nute shouted. "She saved me from the demons!"

The man glowered at Aqua, appraising her arrogantly. "You're one of the pale faces. What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Aqua blinked. "Please, I'm here because of the heartless – those demons that attacked Nute. I know how to defeat them,"

"Kocoum," the other man said, setting Nute down on the ground and she hugged him round the middle contentedly. "Let us take her back to the village. Let the Chief decide."

"These strangers are the reason to demons have come!" he spat, pointing his spear savagely at Aqua. "They destroy our land, wound our people-!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Aqua said quickly. "I only just arrived here today. And there were four others with me. We came here because of the heartless."

"Kocoum," Pacco said quietly, and they started arguing in fierce whispers while Nute ambled back over to Aqua, holding her arms up to her. Instinctively Aqua leaned down to pick her up, and she snuggled up against her side. "We must," Pacco was saying just as a horrible, ear splitting roar echoed across the forest.

Aqua summoned her keyblade, and the two men recoiled first with shock, and then Kocoum snarled, aiming at her with his spear, only stopping when Pacco forcibly pushed him aside and reminded him angrily that Nute was in the woman's arms.

"Those demons!" Kocoum hissed.

"It's a heartless," Aqua said urgently. "It's not safe to stay here,"

Pacco looked between them anxiously, and Kocoum gave in. "Fine. You!" he snapped at Aqua. "You will come with us." He took her roughly by the arm and dragged her between the trees, with Pacco on her other side stroking Nute's hair.

They ran through the forest like a parody of a three-legged race, and only slowed when they came to the edge of a great clearing at the edge of another huge river. There were houses here, made from wood and daubed clay, and many people dark of hair and skin like Pacco and Nute wearing animal skins and brandishing weapons as they approached. Aqua caused quite a stir with her painfully pale skin in comparison, and her bright blue hair – several people ran away from the proceedings, and several others made the same sign with their hands, as if to ward off evil.

An aging man and woman came hurrying to the forefront of the crowd, calling for Nute, and Aqua set her down again so she could run to them, where she was smothered in hugs and kisses, and berated for giving them such a fright.

"On!" Kocoum said angrily, pushing Aqua along.

Finally she was brought to a large circular area around a huge bonfire, and two men were stood beside it looking sombre and grave. Kocoum pushed her into the circle as people began to gather, and then kicked her in the back of her legs so she fell forward onto her knees. Aqua's dignity dictated that she didn't rise to such baiting and lash out like he royally deserved, but in her pride she gave the man the filthiest scowl she could manage, and he snarled in response; for a moment she feared he would strike at her, but the taller of the two men by the fire raised a hand, and he backed off instantly.

This man had to be the Chief, the leader of these people – he had the same authoritative glow that she remembered of Master Eraqus. He had strong facial features, and though he was not as ornately dressed as some of the others crowding around them, the eagle feathers of his headdress and the austere arrangement of his clothes, including a large fur covered dance shawl, impressed upon Aqua the nature of his position within the village. He was a leader through and through.

"Who are you?" he asked in slow and measured tones.

"My name is Master Aqua," she said more confidently than she felt. "I came here because I was following the heartless."

"Heartless?" he asked, regarding her through narrowed eyes. "You speak of the demons the pale faces brought with them. And you tell me you were following them? From where did you come?"

This was like playing with fire – she couldn't say from another world. "Very far from here, further than the pale faces."

Kocoum snorted derisively, but was silenced with a look from the Chief.

"You call yourself a Master." He said to Aqua, looking down on her from his vantage point. "If your people are not the pale faces destroying the forest, then who are they?"

"I came here with four others, we were tracking the heartless together. We have weapons that are the only thing that can destroy them, and we were going to search for them. But we got split up,"

"Others?" the man looked troubled for a fraction of a moment. "We found two more people dressed like you by the Great River. They had most peculiar weapons…"

"Please, take me to them!" she said, getting to her feet despite the menacing hand Kocoum laid on her shoulder.

The Chief appraised her for a moment before demanding that Kocoum get the other prisoners. The man stalked off, back ramrod straight and returned a few minutes later with Mel and Terra, both splattered with mud and soaking wet. Terra's lip was split, and Mel was nursing a bruise on her forehead, but they both brightened the moment they saw her. Kocoum tried to prevent it, but Mel broke free from the man stood beside her and rushed to Aqua, arms held out.

"Are you okay?" she asked anxiously, reaching up and wiping the back of her hand against Aqua's forehead. When she lowered it into Aqua's field of vision she saw it was covered in blood.

"Huh?" Aqua raised her own hand and wiped it down the side of her face. There was a cut just at the edge of her hairline, and as with all scalp wounds, it was bleeding profusely. "Oh,"

Terra placed his hand against the side of her face and she felt the tug and flow of healing magic, and the bleeding stopped. "What happened to you?" he asked anxiously.

"Silence!" Kocoum shouted at them, but he again backed down when his chief gestured.

"I want to know why you are here, and why my people are in danger." He said in a commanding tone that humbled Aqua.

"We told you!" Terra snapped, his temper apparently already frayed to its limit. "We're here to fight those demons!" He looked to Aqua for support, and she laid a hand on his shoulder, and he visibly relaxed – something the Chief noted with his unswerving gaze.

"If we have caused any trouble for you and your people, I am really sorry – we didn't mean to. I don't know about the people you call the pale faces, but I can assure you we have nothing to do with them. The creatures you call demons are actually the heartless. They come from the darkness in people's hearts, and they manifest as these monsters. Recently they had been appearing in many places in huge numbers. That's why we came here," Aqua felt far calmer knowing she had Terra and Mel standing either side of her as she addressed the Chief. "Have you seen two others, like us? One has light hair," she pointed at Mel, "and the other has dark, like these two." She pointed at Terra. "Both young men. About the same height?"

The Chief shook his head. "I have seen no others. The pale faces wear armour different to yours, I would know if I had seen your people."

Aqua sagged and tried not to let the despair that was growing in her heart overtake her. Ven, Sora…what was she going to do? She had to find them, and fast.

"If you are not of the pale faces, than who exactly are you?"

The man who had been staying behind by the fire suddenly came forth and the chief became silent, watching him intently. He was old, with a stooped back and grey-white hair, and a powerful presence. The man looked first from Aqua, then to Terra and finally to Mel. He stood squarely in front of her, and she lowered her gaze respectfully. He grabbed her by the chin somewhat roughly, which made her start, but Mel kept her cool and stared unflinchingly back at the dark eyes that bored into her. Terra made a move to get in the old man's way but Aqua grabbed his arm to steady him before he could take so much as a step. Every move they made, every breath they took was being closely watched by the Chief – she didn't want to give Kocoum any excuse to accuse them of being a threat.

Finally the old man let her go and took a step back from them, looking to his Chief for permission to speak. He nodded, and the man said, "These people have white skin, but they are not of the ilk of the pale faced people that came to rip the land to pieces. I want to see your weapons." He said directly to Aqua.

Terra and Mel looked to her for guidance, and Aqua raised her hand, summoning her blade before the others followed suit. She held it out, hilt first to the old man, and he took it from her, carefully examining it before he handed it back to her quickly.

"These weapons are strange, stranger than the fire and smoke of the pale faces, but I do not sense any harm." He spoke to the people around them, who were staring with fear and awe at the blades in their hands.

"How can we be sure?" Kocoum demanded, trying to intimidate Terra by getting right up in his face. Terra snarled back, but moved his right arm behind his back where the man couldn't get at it. Kocoum instead turned to Mel and ripped her chakra brand from her hand and stormed off towards his Chief. "This weapon is powerful enough to destroy the demons! Think of the pain and damage it could wreak upon the village!"

There was a collective gasp as the keyblade was engulfed in a halo of soft light, and disappeared from his hand, reappearing back in Mel's for all to see. Everyone turned to stare at her, and she managed a faint smile.

"The keyblade is picky about who it will serve. Our people train to wield them properly, and to protect the light of the world." She said in a low but clear voice.

The old man walked up to the Chief and murmured something in his ear before they both walked towards the three of them. The Chief motioned for Mel to step forward, and made no move to stop her when Aqua put a hand on Mel's shoulder. He seemed to except it, and gave Kocoum a withering look when he looked on with disgust.

"Kekata is old and wise. He remembers much that we don't remember now. Once a pair of travellers came through this way, many, many years ago. Kekata was a boy at the time, and many of us here today had not yet been born." He looked to the old man, who Aqua suddenly realised with a flash of intuition was a shaman. That was why he had singled out Mel from among them, and it had probably gone a long way to securing hers and Terra's safety when they were first brought here.

"The men both bore weapons like yours, though both quite different. They did not stay long, but long enough to speak with the Chief of the time. He and the Shaman were in no doubt that these two men were no threat to the village, and I am in no doubt these three and their two friends mean us no harm." Kekata the shaman spoke in a subdued volume, but his words were still strong and clear, ringing out so the congregated villagers could hear every word. "You," he raised a gnarled hand and placed it over Mel's heart. "Remind me of one of those men."

Mel blinked, and comprehension dawned on her face. "What was his name?"

"He called himself Marick."

Aqua blinked in surprise.

"The other called himself Eraqus. The chief grew fond of him in the brief time they spent among us."

Aqua gasped, and the man drew his attention to her. "Really?"

"Yes, child." He gave her a penetrating look. "I see you know him too."

"He was my Master,"

"I see." The shaman gave her a once over before he spoke again. "And how is he?"

A lump rose to her throat, and she struggled against the ball of grief that rose in her chest. Most of the time she could be calm and collected about it, but having this sprung on her so unexpectedly…

"Master Eraqus is no longer with us." Terra said tightly.

"I see. That is sad news to hear. May his spirit walk the Road to the next life in peace." He turned back to Mel and said, "And I see you wear his mantle well, as leader of your people. He would be proud. You are very like Marick," he added.

"He is my grandfather."

"He is as you. Strong, Medicine Woman. Shaman. You do your path and calling a proud service."

Kocoum made a sort of strangled noise of anger, which drew attention towards him again. "Chief! These people are not like us, we cannot let them leave here alive! They could kill us all!"

"Kocoum!" the Chief said, raising a hand for silence, but he wouldn't have any of it. "Be still!" the Chief shouted, which caused a hushed silence to fall over the whole village. "Do you doubt Kekata's judgement?"

"For the sake and safety of our people? Yes!" he pointed at Mel. "Those pale faces with sun coloured hair have done nothing but harm to us! They sent the demons to destroy us!"

"No they didn't!" shouted another man from the onlookers angrily, and stamped forward to meet Kocoum's wrath. "That woman saved Uttan's life! He would have been killed by the demon bear if she had not stood over him while the other man fought it off, and then he would have bled to death if she had not tended to his wound as swiftly as she did!"

Pacco ran forward to back the man up, gesturing at Aqua and saying, "She saved my sister from the demons! She could have been killed, or drowned in the sea. I know these people are strange to us, but they did not threaten us, and they willingly threw down their weapons when we captured them. The pale faces would have killed us on sight. They may look like them in body, but they are not them in spirit!"

The villagers started arguing about it until the Chief raised a hand for silence. He decreed that the three of them were to go free and not to be harmed as long as they posed no threat to his people, with the promise that if they raised so much as a finger against someone, he would allow Kocoum to attack them. Aqua wasn't sure if he said it just to placate the fuming warrior, but she was left in no doubt that he meant the threat.

"You are welcome to stay and share our food," the chief said as the crowd dispersed. "Warriors of the Keyblade are something to celebrate, no?"

"Thank you, Chief." Aqua bowed her head politely and the others followed suit. "But we must look for our friends. With so many heartless around, I'm worried about them." She was _deeply_ worried by this point. If she, Terra and Mel had been picked up by the warriors, surely Sora and Ven should have run into them by now too? Unless these 'pale faces' or the heartless had got to them first…

"I'm sure they can't have gone too far." Mel said placidly. "They might be a bit reckless, but Ven and Sora aren't stupid. Even if they get into trouble they'll be able to find a way out of it."

Terra turned to look at her, his entire torso as well as his head cocked to one side, eyebrow raised.

"It started off encouraging at the beginning, but I didn't feel very confident by the end of that speech."

Mel turned her verdant eyes on him, mimicking a stance that strongly reminded Aqua of Kyo and said without a hint of irony in her tone, "O ye of little faith."

"Chief!" a woman scuttled up to them, eyeing the pale skinned party with reserved fear. "Have you seen Pocahontas?"

"She _should_ be helping to fix the canoes." Said the man, with an exasperated smile. "But I think I saw her near the corn field earlier. I am surprised she missed all the excitement."

"Father!"

"Ah, and here she is," he turned to another woman running towards them, before she skidded to a halt and stared at the three of them with wide, disbelieving eyes. She had the same statuesque figure as many of the other women, and the same strong facial features as the Chief; her short but modest dress was tailored to allow maximum freedom of movement, and her long black hair was unbound and flowing in the slight breeze. Her expression reminded Aqua forcefully of Ven – a gaping, gnawing curiosity that just had to be sated. "Pocahontas, these three are guests of the village. I trust I can leave their well being to you?"

XOXOX

Sora yelped as his knees hit the ground painfully, and a split second later Ven landed beside him, mud splattered across his face. They both blinked up at the man before them, slightly stunned by the turn of events.

One moment, they had been running through the forest, looking at every leaf and twig, having a great time – and then suddenly dozens of heartless had descended upon them all at once. By the time they had fought them off, they were both exhausted, and a group of men had ambushed them, taking all their potions and ethers.

Aqua was going to be so mad – at the men, and at the boys for getting caught.

Sora's ears burned with shame. Riku wouldn't let him live this down if they ever got away.

The man stood before them was wearing a rather old fashioned suit of a sort of purple-maroon colour, with a matching hat that had a feather tucked into the black band. His somewhat lank black hair was braided into pigtails, with silly little red bows tied at the ends. Sora wanted to laugh, but he normally ended up getting hurt when he laughed at the people in charge, so he refrained – even so, he caught Ven's eye and saw a flash of laughter there, and he had to look away with a grin. The man was quite fat, and his moustache did nothing for his face and chins.

"Governor!" Said one of the men who had dragged them here, "We found'em. Just like that man said, down by the clearing at the river."

The Governor drew a sword with an ominous ringing sound and held it out point first, lifting Ven's chin with it. He had an unsympathetic expression, and gazed down at Ven dispassionately as if he were a piece of art on show. Sora tensed, ready to strike first and ask questions later, but the Governor lowered his sword before giving the same treatment to Sora. His lingering gaze reeked of Darkness. He shot Ven a look, and the older man nodded imperceptibly.

Their belongings had been taken from them, and were spread before the Governor so he could examine them. Among them were Ven's pouch that Mel had made, Sora's small rucksack, all their medical provisions, some food and two water canisters, and the clasp knife Riku had given him. Ven owned a small dagger that was used more for shaving wood and cutting string and food – it wasn't really a weapon, but it and the knife were picked out instantly.

"Tell me, boys," The Governor said in a drawling voice that grated on Sora's nerves. "What would two fine young gentlemen such as yourselves be doing here in the new world – with nothing but a knife and a toothpick?"

"None of _your_ business," Ven spat, and winced as one of the men behind him dealt a blow to the back of his head.

"We were just passing through," Sora said desperately. They had to get their things back, and find Aqua as soon as possible. "There are monsters around called the heartless, we were looking for them,"

The Governor's eyes widened and lit up, and he dismissed the majority of the men back to their duties, before beckoning a couple of them to escort the boys and his man servant towards a large tent in the middle of the camp. It was a barren sight – the walls were deep barriers of freshly cut wood, and the tents were a huddle of miserable looking canvas hovels; only the big tent they were kicked into had any comforts, and even this made Sora recoil. The heartless had definitely been here.

"So." The man said. "You know of the heartless then?"

"Yes. That's why we're here,"

"So, your name must be Sora." The Governor addressed him. "And you – _you_ don't match the description given to me. What is your name, my boy? Wiggins!" he bellowed, making them both jump.

"Yessir?" said the thin, weedy looking name who seemed anxious to please.

"Bring us some tea!"

The man hopped to it, and as he scuttled off another man entered the tent. "Ratcliffe!" he stopped and stared at Sora and Ven, in a pile on the floor. "I'm sorry." He blinked, holding his hands up in surprise. "I'm not disturbing anything, am I?"

"No Smith. These two were found skulking about the riverbanks. What news to you have for me?"

Smith was as different from the Governor as could be – he was lean and agile, with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a set of plain armour, with a gun slung over his shoulder and a bulging leather satchel hanging from his arm. He didn't seemed tainted by the darkness – he seemed…positively _glowing_ with light; Sora could tell instantly he could be an ally.

"The locals have retreated for now."

"Good, good. And what of the digging?"

Smith set the bag down, and walked into the middle of the tent, something about his motions seemingly exaggerated. Sora watched, but Ven nudged him in the ribs, and he turned in time to see a raccoon scuttle across the floor, and the satchel conspicuously less bulging.

"Nothing Sir."

Ratcliffe snarled to himself. "Very well. Keep searching!"

"Sir, may I ask why these two are here?"

"We didn't do anything!" Sora said loudly, just as the Governor was about to turn round and see the raccoon. The little animal was scuffling about in the pile of stolen property; it dived and hid as the man stalked past, them double-checked before making a dash for a large chest in the corner behind a screen.

"Trespassing. Plotting with the savages. Trying to steal my gold!"

"What gold?" Ven asked, blinking. "There was gold?" he turned to Sora, wide eyed. "Aqua didn't say anything about _gold_!"

"First I've heard of it." Aqua wouldn't have been after any gold if there was any – they had a far more important job to do. But if she _had_ known, would she have told them about it anyway?

"Aha!" Sora winced as the man grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled upwards. "So there are more of you! Where are your little friends hiding? Tell me!"

"We don't know!" Sora said, resisting the urge to struggle. He could knock this bully on his backside if he wanted, but it could be dangerous for the other men in the camp if they started a fight, and they needed to get information. "We split up! We haven't been here long and we weren't planning on staying!"

"We don't know anything about any gold," Ven added. "We're here for the heartless."

"Well, these monsters of which you speak," He let go of Sora, who massaged his scalp, wincing. "You couldn't possibly hope to fight them with _this_," he held up Riku's knife. "What on earth were you two boys doing?"

"We have other ways of fighting the heartless." Ven said defiantly, looking up at the man with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, and I suppose that's what your precious keyblade is for, then?" he simpered.

"How d'you know about the keyblade?" Ven demanded.

"I am remarkably well informed, my dear boy."

"Tea, Sir!" Wiggins said brightly, bearing a tea tray into their midst.

Ratcliffe took a sip from an ornate china cup, and Wiggins offered Sora and Ven some before hopping off to Smith, who took one and sniffed it before politely taking a gulp and setting it down on a table nearby – the boys didn't touch the stuff. Mel had introduced them to the ways of herbal tea, but they weren't prepared to risk drinking anything that this man presented them with.

"Well now, chaps!" Ratcliffe said briskly, rifling through some papers on top of the chest that the raccoon had disappeared into. "I think we can reach some agreement like civilised gentlemen, now can't we?"

Sora fought against the urge to gulp. This wasn't going to go down well, he could just tell…

"There are a bunch of savages on our land here, keeping the gold all for themselves. It's our mission to take back that gold! And I have it on good authority that keyblades are extremely good deterrents against meddling fools."

Ven snorted, catching Sora's eye, and they both grinned. Donald had a hissy fit every time they stuck their noses where they didn't belong. If anything, in their case the keyblade _attracted_ meddling of every description.

"Would you two be interested in joining our venture?" Ratcliffe smiled unpleasantly and extended a hand to them.

Ven cocked his head to one side and gave Sora a sidelong look. Sora's lips twitched into a smile, and he said to Ratcliffe, "What exactly is this 'venture'?"

"To clear out the savages, and find my _gold_!"

Sora and Ven gave each other exaggerated, deliberating looks. "_Well_…" he said, dragging out the sound while Ven tried to hide his snigger. "Sorry Sir, but we're really just here to fight the heartless. We can't help you with the gold."

"And if I were to extend a portion of the gold to you for your assistance?"

Good thing Donald wasn't here. "Thanks but no thanks." Sora shook his head. "We have an important job to do."

"So if you could just give us our stuff back we'll get out of your hair and be on our way." Ven added.

"Oh," Ratcliffe smiled nastily, bearing down on them both. "I don't think so. Either you're with me, or with the savages. And I'll brook _no_ opposition. This is your last chance, lads."

"So…you want us to side with you, after," Ven started counting off on his fingers, and it occurred to Sora they _might_ be pushing their luck a bit far at this point. "You ambush us, steal our things, threaten to kill us…yeah, it's not a very strong argument you've put together there."

Ratcliffe's face was unreadable. He snapped his fingers and Wiggins appeared like an eager dog and he said, "Get the men in here and take these two halfwits to the prison cells. They are not allowed out, and dock them to half rations each,"

Ven raised an eyebrow at Sora, who nodded once. As the men approached to take them away, they flung their arms out and summoned their keyblades. There was a time and a place for a brawl, and this was definitely it.

The men went down easily, but as they advanced on Ratcliffe, he raised a large black stone like a smooth pebble the size of his fist, and suddenly it felt like all the colour in the tent was sucked away. Sora's knees gave in and he landed heavily on all fours, and moments later Ven collapsed beside him, gasping for air.

"_You_ two will be kept under lock and key, I think. I can't have you messing with my plans, or free to destroy the heartless. I am in need of their assistance if I am to find my gold."

Sora frowned, trying to keep the man in focus as the rolling blackness kept threatening to over take him.

"Smith!" was the last thing he heard before he went under and felt the ground against his cheek.

When he opened his eyes again he was bound tightly to a harness set in the wall of a dank wooden hovel, his arms held at a painful angle above his head and shackled at the wrists. The draining feeling was still lingering, and he saw a series of black stones set in a row along the floor of the room. On the opposite wall Ven was clamped in a similar harness to Sora's, and he was barely conscious. Sora tried not to panic as he looked around for a means of escape; nothing sprang immediately to mind.

It felt like being in the Under World – his energy was being siphoned off and he couldn't call forth any allies, use any magic, and he had no energy for forcing a drive form. With Ven hardly awake, it was looking very grim indeed. He tried to rouse himself and summon his keyblade, but it gave him a piercing pain that lanced through his skull and his right hand ached alarmingly. Something weird was up with those stones if it blocked even his keyblade…

"Nnngh…" Ven shook his had laboriously and slowly raised it, eyes squinting in the half-light of the room from a single lamp hanging from the low ceiling. "Sora…?"

"Over here,"

"What _happened_…?"

"I don't know. But Ratcliffe cheated!" If not for these weird stones, they would have knocked him out cold with one hit! But because of these stones, they were incapacitated…

Ven let out a long breath, and for a moment he didn't drew it back in, and Sora worried there was something really wrong with him. The he drew in a shuddering breath, and said, "We are not gonna pass the exam if we can be beaten this easily…"

"Riku's gonna _love_ this…" Sora moaned. He could just see it now: the taunts, the humiliation, the abject defeat… No! They would bust their way out of this somehow!

"Aqua's gonna kill me."

"C'mon, cheer up! We'll get out somehow," Sora tested the shackles bound to his wrists. "A friend of mine showed me how to pick locks,"

"With what, thin air?" Ven snapped irritably. Maybe he was just hungry…Sora was definitely dying of thirst right about now.

"Well, these look like pretty simple locks. Maybe if we just…" he tried shaking them at different angles to shift the mechanism inside.

"Sora, what are you _doing_?"

"Aladdin said if you get the right angle…" Sora said, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. "You can just…ouch!" the corner of the manacle bit deeply into his wrist, and a trickle of blood trailed down his arm.

"Stop! You could hurt yourself, or get the wound infected."

"A cure spell will clear that right up-"

"With _what_ magic?" Ven demanded. "Don't be stupid, Sora!"

"Well we've gotta do _something_," he huffed. What would Riku do in this situation? Laugh at him. That was not entirely helpful… Riku always had a plan – he never had to wing it like Sora did because he was always prepared.

Ven exhaled loudly and looked around the room, searching for something – anything. There was a long wooden pole with a broken metal piece at the end leaning against the frame of the small door, too far away for either of them to reach though they stretched their legs as far as they could towards it. Ven was closest and he was still about a foot short after he had splayed himself out to his fullest extent.

"Damn it!"

"There's gotta be something else," Sora said firmly. Every hopeless situation before this had yielded unexpected and fruitful results, there was no reason they couldn't find a way out of this one now.

"What the heck _are_ those things, anyway?" Ven nodded at the row of black stones on the floor.

"Dunno. But it feels like it did in the Under World. You know, Hades' realm." An idea suddenly flared into life in his head. "Hey, Ven! Do you know any spells that reverses the effects of curses?"

"Huh? No – you need talismans for that. Only mages like Yen Sid could pull off a verbal spell like that, and I'm not so good with magic…"

"Me neither…" Sora sighed and cast his gaze to the ceiling. "I wonder if Donald knows any counter curses?"

"Those things are freaky," Ven pulled a face and turned away from the line of black stones. "It's like looking into black holes…"

Sora took another look around the room. There were hooks on the walls at random intervals, a hole in the ceiling were apparently a chimney was located, and a low bench on the adjacent wall to the ones were they were chained. Ven was closest to the door on the other side, and Sora was nearer to the furthest corner. The stones were aligned in a perfectly straight line at seemingly perfect and regular distance from each other. There were seven of them in total, and Ven was right; they seemed to have no substance, just appeared as a void in space and time, sucking and draining them of energy.

"I feel kinda sick…" Ven said in a subdued voice, breaking Sora's concentration. "How long you think we've been here?"

"Dunno." He licked his dry lips – his thirst was starting to over take the urge to find an escape.

"They must be looking for us by now, right…?"

"Even if we can't bust our way out, I know someone will come and help us." Sora said firmly, assured already in his heart and trying to impart that confidence to his friend. "Remember that Smith guy?"

"Not really…"

"I don't think he's a bad guy." Sora said defiantly.

"Uh-huh." Ven was sagging against the wall and his bonds.

"Ven? Ven! Hey! Stay awake!"

"I can't…" he said weakly. "I wanna go to sleep…I'm really tired."

"You spent over a decade asleep! You can't be sleepy!" it did nothing to rouse him. "Ven!"

The door banged open and ricocheted off the wall; a young nervous looking man scuttled in, followed by Smith, and Sora feigned sleep. They poured water into their mouths, and left some food within easy reach if not for the shackles. Smith stood looking around the room, and then dismissed the younger man.

"Go on, Thomas. I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure John?" he asked uncertainly.

"Positive! Go on, before all the rum's gone," he threw the water skins to him, and the young man gave him a quick smile before he left the room with great haste.

Through his half closed eyes, Sora saw Smith crouch down and put something on the floor and heard the soft murmur of indistinct words before he also left, casting a wary look at the stones on the floor. So he didn't like them anymore than they did.

"Yah!" Sora jumped out of his skin when something crawled up his leg. "What?" it was the raccoon he had seen earlier in the tent. Its muzzle twitched into a smile, and it held up a piece of bread to him from the plate that had been left on the floor. "Huh? Who are you?"

The raccoon chattered happily and stuffed the food into Sora's mouth before scuttling back down to the ground to pick something off the floor. It was a scrap of paper, with a single word written on it in loopy handwriting. It took a while for him to read it, first in the dim light of the room, and second to get the raccoon to hold it still and at the right distance so his eyes could focus on it.

_Tonight_.

Sora grinned. He _knew_ they had an ally in the camp! Now if he could just convince Ven to stay awake…

The raccoon scuttled back down and scampered over to Ven, climbing nimbly up his leg with a piece of bread in its paw. Ven didn't respond at first, even with the food being stuffed past his lips. He tried to rally himself, and with extreme difficulty he raised his head and opened his eyes.

Ven screamed and tried to kick out, away from the thing in his face. The raccoon yelped and dived out of the way, cowering behind Sora's leg.

"It's okay! He's a friend!" Sora said quickly.

"What the hell is that thing!" Ven started shaking, and Sora noticed he was freezing. "Where did it come from?"

"I think I know."

"You _think_?" Ven said weakly, sagging against his bonds, his face unusually pale.

"Tonight I'll know for certain."

XOXOX


	12. The All Nighter

**AN: I'd like to apologise for the delay in this update and the probable delay in the next; I haven't been feeling especially well the last few days which contributed to the long delay, and the writer's block didn't help xD but I got there and that's the main thing :) Whilst I didn't quite use the ideas that **HeartofFyrwinde **gave me, they still lead in a certain direction that I expanded on, and their continued willingness to listen to my ramblings and bounce ideas with me massively helps out :D I have a whole box of virtual cookies with your name on mate!**

**If you have the time please leave me a review and let me know what you think! :)**

_**The All Nighter**_

Aqua smiled to herself, despite her worry. Mel and Pocahontas, after a few minutes of watching each other very closely, had apparently become the best of friends, as if they had grown up together. The young woman of the Powhatans had volunteered to help look for their missing friends, and she was deeply fascinated with them. Aqua supposed, compared to the people of the village, and these 'pale faces' everyone kept talking about, she and her friends couldn't have stood out more even if they tried. And yet…watching the two young women run around the forest, dodging the trees and roots in their way, making short work of the heartless when they decided to have a go – they could have been childhood friends and you wouldn't know the difference.

Pocahontas said she knew someone who might be able to help, and she took them down one of the many rivers in a large canoe, with Mel helping to paddle. Terra stared at her in amazement as they pushed the craft into the water and demanded to know when she had learnt.

"When I was a child." She said, startled.

"I didn't know you could kayak!" he said, sounding almost wounded.

"It's a canoe," she said after a long moment, trying to gather her scattered wits. For all that her self-confidence had grown, little else had really changed. "And there's probably still a lot about me you don't know." She added gently to placate his hurt.

Mel was quite the accomplished sailor, if a bit rusty at first, but she got into the rhythm of it quickly and sat at the front of the boat while Pocahontas sat at the stern, steering the vessel with sure strokes and relying on Mel to warn her of oncoming obstacles. Aqua wanted to help, but she had never been kayaking or canoeing before, and she felt she was more of a hindrance than a help. It was a fairly short trip, and they docked against a sandy bank before slipping into the shade of an enormous weeping willow tree. Pocahontas ran ahead, jumping nimbly over a huge, twisted root with Mel following swiftly. Aqua let herself walk at a slow and measured pace, trying not to think too much about Ven and Sora possibly in mortal danger. Terra scrambled slightly less elegantly after Mel, not quite keeping his balance as he tried to follow.

"Grandmother Willow!" Pocahontas called, running lithely up to a natural platform made by an enormous tree stump set before the trunk of the willow tree.

"Is this another 'Shamanic' thing?" Terra asked, tottering after Mel and accepting her proffered hand to help him over the last gap between the roots and the platform. "Talking to trees?"

"I don't know." Mel said in that soft, almost vague tone she had. She never sounded vague and _careless _– just…lost in a world of her own. "Some people talk to trees, like they do to their plants. Ven talks to his plants all the time,"

"Because he's a nutcase." Terra said decisively as Aqua joined them on the platform. "I thought you said sorry to that tree?"

"I thought it would be only polite after what happened. The same way you would apologise to Leo if you punched him in the face."

Aqua snorted. "Who'd be stupid enough to punch Leo in the face? He'd flatten you!"

"Talkin' to trees…" Terra folded his arms and shook his head. "My day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"Kyo used to talk to the rose bush in our garden," Mel said unexpectedly. She very rarely spoke of her home world, and if she did it was only about something directly linked to her family. "He went camping the whole summer one year, and the bush just died." She looked faintly puzzled by this herself. "Poor thing. I didn't think I was _that_ much of a bore."

Terra sniggered to himself, and Aqua stifled a laugh.

"Grandmother Willow hasn't seen your friends, and neither have any of the animals," Pocahontas looked upset that she couldn't help as she entered the circle of conversation. "I'm sorry,"

"That's all right," Mel said comfortingly. "I'm sure they'll turn up soon, they always get out of trouble. Sora's notorious for it." Aqua couldn't help it; she had to laugh and staggered away, clutching her sides while Mel went on. "You have our thanks for trying all the same, it was very kind of you both."

"Um…" Terra raised a hand to point, and pulled a quizzical face. "How can the tree tell you if it's seen Sora and Ven?"

"Like this," said a low, elderly voice with an assured tone.

They all whipped around in time to see a face coalesce from a huge knot in the wood of the tree trunk: a kind, human face, that of a woman and deeply lined with wrinkles, the same colour and texture as the willow bark. The tree smiled at their dumbstruck expressions, and a tendril of a vine like branch came to life to snake over and poke Terra in the chest. It took a moment for it to sink in, and then Terra yelped and jumped backwards, nearly pitching over the edge and into the pool of water below.

"Pleased to meet you," Mel said pleasantly, as if talking to trees with human faces wasn't a novelty. The again, this was _Mel_ they were talking about – she had predicted a thunderstorm using the dregs of porridge Ven had left lying around. Aqua had the impression that given the right tools and incentive, Mel could do almost anything.

"Tell me your names," the tree said in a soft but unyielding tone. She didn't exactly command, but it was hard to refuse the request.

"I'm Aqua."

"My name is Melody."

There was an expectant pause.

"And this is our friend Terra," Aqua supplied with a smile. He was still gaping like a fish out of water. Aqua all but stuffed her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing when Mel nudged him in the ribs.

"It's rude to stare," she said in an undertone, and he clamped his mouth shut and looked away, abashed.

"You are not the people who came from the sea." Grandmother Willow said pleasantly, regarding the three of them closely. "I see." She said, as if to herself. "There are more of you than I thought."

"Huh?" Terra and Mel said together. "Have you seen Ven and Sora?" he asked.

"No, child. I have not seen your friends, and I do not know where to look for them. But I can tell you that you are not the first of your kind to be seen in this world. I remember many years, as long as this forest has stood; and I remember each visitor who bares the mark of a strong heart and spirit." She turned to look at Pocahontas. "Almost as strong as my dear Pocahontas!" The woman smiled bashfully and tried to mutter something about it being an over statement, but in true motherly fashion the tree ignored her. "Now then. The last time a wielder of the Keyblade came through here…oh, now _when_ was it?" she chuckled at the stunned looks on their faces. "It is a secret meant to be kept to keep the order of the worlds, but hear tell still leaks through. I must say, I _am_ glad to see such bright lights being the ones to wield the power. The last young man I encountered was shrouded in shadows, and I chose not to speak with him."

Aqua had a sneaking suspicion who that may have been, but refrained from saying it aloud. She started when the face in the tree looked upwards sharply, and the branched of the tree seemed to quiver with alarm.

"Oh dear!"

"What is it, Grandmother Willow?" Pocahontas asked urgently.

"One of those heartless demons is nearby. If you don't stop it, it might make it as far as the village!"

"We can't let that happen," Terra said sharply, completely over his shock now. He raised his hand and drew his keyblade from nowhere; amazing Pocahontas with it's otherworldly qualities that to her were completely unknown. "Let's go!"

"Wait, Terra!" Aqua called as he jumped down from the tree stump and ran through the maze of roots, Mel and Pocahontas fast on his heels, the older woman easily over taking him. "We don't even know which direction…" Aqua said to thin air, frustrated.

"Oh, just a little further north from where they are heading." The willow tree said kindly. "He has a strong heart, I'm sure he can find the heartless ones without my guidance."

"Thank you, Grandmother," Aqua bowed her head politely before chasing after her friends, weapon in hand and mind racing ahead to think of a tactical plan.

XOXOX

Anger, so deep and righteous it had to be channelled before it consumed him. Tomasa screamed with frustration and flung the hateful stone Pete had given him against the wall of his room, and it fractured into a spray of dust so fine it looked like silver star dust.

The all-consuming ire from moments before vanished in an instant, and he stood breathing deeply and painfully, a stitch springing up in his side. Then, he automatically assumed the recovery position from PE at school to straighten himself out and urge the stitch to subside. He jumped when the door opened, and the pain that had started to ebb suddenly returned full force.

"My dear, whatever is the matter?" Maleficent asked as she entered, uninvited.

Although, it was _her_ castle, she could do what she liked. That was his aunt's philosophy, and when he and Kyo had complained she had invited them to build and maintain their own household where they could set the rules – until then they had to abide by the owner of the house, in that case being her.

"I…" he closed his eyes and turned away, shame faced. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me…"

Maleficent hovered over the fine spray of silver dust that had settled in a pattern similar to a creator you would expect from a meteor impact. It occurred to him as she dipped a long finger into the pile, that it was odd for a stone as black as the void itself to produce a silver, metallic residue.

"Now then," she said gently, turning to him after searching the dust. "Tell me, Tomasa, what caused this disquiet?"

Tomasa swallowed. "I'm really sorry, I just-!" he didn't know what to say. He had felt so angry and frustrated; something had to give before it was his mind that snapped. "I couldn't control my temper. It's my fault, I'll clean it up,"

"That is not what I meant. Tell me what is on your mind," despite his many misgivings since coming here, he liked to think she was at least genuinely curious if not concerned.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to help his focus, Tomasa admitted, "Pete makes me so angry sometimes. I don't understand the way he works, and I just resent the way he deals with me. He said I should stay out of his way now that Ratcliffe is on side, because I can't control the heartless. He also said I can't use these stones, and he said he was going to use them on the keybladers. I don't want Mel to get hurt!" It terrified him to think about it… "What are these stones, anyway?" he asked, suddenly curious. He really didn't have so much as a clue about them.

"Didn't Pete explain?" Maleficent asked, plucking another stone from the folds of her robe. She held it up, and it seemed to suck the light and colour out of existence. "They absorb the light of others, siphoning off magic and energy to weaken your opponent. In the right hands and with the right training, the power stored within them can be channelled back and used to your advantage against the one it originally came from. They are good for weakening your adversaries," she started walking towards the window and looked out of it into the distance. It was a barren, featureless landscape Tomasa tried to ignore most of the time. "I have recently discovered them myself, they are useful things, are they not? I wonder," she turned to look at him with a calculating expression that Tomasa matched. "Did you not feel the effects as you carried it home?"

Tomasa blinked and thought about it for a moment, trying not to think too much about the effect of the word 'home'. "I don't know. I was just really angry, and Pete had given it to me. I took it out on the stone…"

"It seems you are one of few who are not effected by them."

"How do you mean?"

"Aren't you aware of their presence?"

"Yes…I just chose to ignore it because it creeped me out." Kyo often ignored things that scared him and focused manically on something else. That always worked for him, and Tomasa had tried it a few times, like now with some measure of success.

Maleficent regarded him closely for a few moments before giving that disconcerting smile of hers. "I think perhaps, now is the time to start your training." She said as she walked slowly towards the door.

"Huh? Training? What training?" he said quickly, his pulse hammering in his veins.

"Perhaps not the heartless, just yet, but certainly I can teach you some magic along with these stones,"

Tomasa frowned, and looked down at the dust pile, and called out to her as she was about to leave. "Wait!" Maleficent stopped, but did not turn around. "What are they even called? And why did it break up into _silver_ dust?"

Maleficent slowly turned to him, and he felt a prickling along his spine that made the hair on his neck stand on end. "They are known as _Void Stones_. They may have other names I do not know of. The silver colour is the stored energy the stone held, which has now dissipated. Do not fear, no harm was done, although perhaps next time you should try to think of another way to vent your anger. I understand, Pete can be…" she smiled as she lingered over the right word. "Rather _trying_, at times."

After she left Tomasa shut the door quickly and flopped onto his bed, staring up at the high ceiling with its gothic style vaults, heart hammering. Void…it rung a bell. In his home world their version of hell was a place called the void – it was like a vacuum, and only horrors like demons could escape through foul play and were said to drag the unwary down into their depths. It was a story told to frighten children into obedience, like the boogieman or the witch living under the drainage system like the girl next door believed.

But…grandpa had told them a story, when they were much younger. He told them lots of stories; Mel loved to learn, and Kyo loved to listen, and Tomasa loved to be a part of it. He knew enough about the universe they lived in to distinguish between the different realms – the realm of light, the realm of darkness, and the realms between that were neither, as well as the lanes and alleyways in between. Grandpa had told them a story about another aspect of the world, known as _The_ Void, a place supposedly worse than the Realm of Darkness. It was hard to believe, and Tomasa had never tried to find any deeper meaning. Now he wished fiercely he had paid more attention at the time – Mel and Kyo must remember more, but of course, he couldn't ask them.

Trying not to let his frustration boil over again, Tomasa settled back and relaxed into the mattress of his bed, counting his breaths until they were slow and steady.

"It'll be okay," he said aloud, unthinking. "I know it will."

It was just an old story from an old man told to keep a bunch of kids quiet on a cold winter's night. That's all.

XOXOX

They chased the heartless all the way back to the willow tree, and finally dispatched it. It was another of those unnerving, bear like creatures, not as big as the one that had torn through the river, but still big enough to be a cause for concern. Aqua insisted that they take a breather, and they all sat down to rest before the talking tree trunk.

Terra couldn't get over it – a _talking_ tree! And Mel's calm, placid acceptance of it all. It irked him slightly that Aqua found his reaction amusing, but it didn't do much to rile him up – he was more concerned about the heartless, after all.

"I am still looking," said the tree as Mel settled down beside Pocahontas. "If your friends are around, I'll find them."

"Oh, no!" Mel raised her hands. "Please, don't put yourself to any trouble for our sakes. I know Ven and Sora will find us."

"How can you be sure?" Pocahontas asked, looking her full in the face.

"They always do." Mel replied simply, and she accepted the answer.

"Your people have most unusual names…and I thought _John Smith_ was a peculiar name! Do all people have names like that, where you come from?"

Mel and Pocahontas started swapping names and trying to learn more about each other's cultures. Terra drew himself away from them and went over to Aqua, seated at the edge of the platform created by the tree stump and watching the water below ripple in the light breeze that brought many warm coloured leaves with it floating on the invisible currents. She turned to look at him as he sat down behind her, and smiled before turning back to her quiet reflection. Terra casually slung his arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder; she leant her head against his in acknowledgement.

It was the small, simple things, more so than the bigger ones, that made everything worthwhile.

Aqua was the oldest friend he had, and being with her, just simply hanging out, was the easiest thing in the world. Part of his reservations of letting his deeper feelings known was that he might lose this casual, easy intimacy they had. Of course, he should have known Aqua would want that normality as well; it felt wonderful to be this close to her, where he could see and touch her, substantial and solid.

As they sat idly by, Terra started to tune in to what the others were saying. They were swapping stories, and the willow tree was listening attentively, every so often fielding a question or remarking on something one of the women said, sparking off a whole new round of conversation. Aqua shifted and he raised his head to move out of her way; she turned her face to his, angling her body towards him as best she could from her seated position, lifting one of her legs and tucking it underneath herself. Eyes closed, she leaned her face against his, noses and foreheads touching. They stayed there, poised for a moment before Terra bridged the gap between their lips.

It was almost terrifying, how his need for her kept growing – it was almost a physical ache when they were apart for any length of time. He knew his advances were welcome, and his affections returned, but…he still wanted more, like every other young man desperately in love. It was selfish, immature, ridiculous even, to demand more of her, and yet it was still there: a deep yearning that couldn't quite be satisfied. This was probably the first time they had had a moment alone together since the Mark of Mastery was announced; they had both been so focused on it, not just for Terra's sake but Ven's as well.

Aqua pulled back slightly, and he tried to follow, but she turned her face at an angle to deter him. Then she raised her head so their eyes were level, and looked straight into his. It did nothing to quench the urges he could feel in his body.

How could her eyes match her hair? It had always been a mystery to him – such a vivid blue, especially in the filtered light through the trees. And when had it happened, the transition between? When had she gone from a pretty annoying girl, to a pretty stunning woman?

Terra's thoughts ended as she pressed her lips against his again, though more lightly and not for long. Her nose skimmed his cheek as she leaned towards him, resting against the crook of his neck, and arms around his middle, sighing with contentment. Using one arm to lean on for support, he raised his other to stroke her hair, smiling. He was used to having to battle for her affection; she often rebuffed him when she was focusing on something important, or because he had purposefully wound her up. And here she was, cuddling up against him without any resistance. He voiced this aloud, and she smiled against his neck, right before her hands probed around his sides and found the pressure points she was looking for.

"Ouch!" Terra jumped, and glowered at her.

Aqua smiled serenely, snuggling up again as if he was her pillow and said, "Shut up, Terra."

Terra rolled his eyes.

Of course. Aqua wouldn't yield so easily… It should have been frustrating, but Terra liked a challenge, and he had been trying to crack her for years. A little romance in the mix just made it slightly more interesting.

"You know I do love you, right?" he asked idly.

"Yeah, right."

Terra raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, and she flashed him a sly smile.

"But I don't _like_ you right now," he snapped, annoyed.

"Oh well," she smiled sweetly, and giggled as he fumed at her.

This wasn't a battle – it was all out war. Terra pushed her away and turned his back, nose in the air and affecting a 'couldn't care less' attitude. He waited, dangling the bait there for her. After a few moments he heard her shuffle, and then Aqua crawled over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He only just deigned to look at her, and he closed his eyes and held still and unresponsive when she kissed him.

"You're adorable when you're mad," she said in a sickeningly loving voice.

In response, Terra bit her lip hard, making her yelp and recoil. Then, with ire in her eyes, she smacked him round the back of the head.

Yup, it was a war all right.

XOXOX

As promised, when night fell (hard to tell with the lack of light in their cell) the guy named Smith came for them. Ven needed some support at first while Sora rummaged through their bags that had been pilfered back. Sadly, Riku's knife was nowhere to be found, but he could worry about that later. After they left the room and the disconcerting stones, Sora forced a Hi-potion down Ven's throat, and he perked right up.

"We have to be quiet," Smith said, checking around the corner of a tent and ducking back into the shadows as two men walked past. "Get to the gate without being seen." The raccoon from before flitted to his side and looked up expectantly. "Go Meeko," the raccoon raced off in the dimming twilight and disappeared.

"Now what?" Sora asked, poking Ven to make sure he was still awake, turning back satisfied when he swatted the hand away irritably. Good, he was feeling better.

"We wait," Smith said, raising a hand to signal for silence. "By the way," he added after a long pause, turning to look at Sora again. "My name's John," he held out a hand to him.

"I'm Sora!" he said, shaking his hand. "This is my friend Ventus, but everyone calls him Ven-"

There was an all mighty crash from across the camp, and several barrels and a neat stack of crates was over turned in a crescendo of noise. John waited for a few more seconds before he signalled to them both and said, "Follow me,"

They dashed across the camp, dodging in and out of the shadows, but no one was on the look out for them, they were too busy complaining about the mess they had to clean up. They made it right to the other side of the site, and ran along the dark high wall of timber to a small gap that had been left unmanned. Meeko scuttled up to meet them and jumped onto John's back.

"Thanks, Meeko!" Sora said with a grin, which the raccoon returned in kind.

After they had been running for about ten minutes they stopped to rest, and Ven sat down heavily, panting hard.

"Thanks, John," Sora said once he got his breath back. "We owe you one!"

"Don't mention it," John smiled at him. "So, what exactly are you two doing here?"

"Like we said, we're here for the heartless."

"Ratcliffe insists those things are the locals invention to keep us away from the gold." He shook his head condescendingly. "But there is no gold!"

"Like we'd know," Ven shrugged, heaving himself to his feet again. "That was the first _we'd_ heard about any gold."

"I got into trouble with him today. I met one of the women from the village, and she thought I was talking about corn when I told her about the gold. They don't have any – but Ratcliffe wouldn't listen. He wants to wage a war with the Powhatans."

"That sounds bad," Sora said, his will hardening with determination. He turned to Ven and said, "We'd better find Aqua and the others fast! I bet that Ratcliffe guy's using the heartless himself!"

"Yeah," Ven nodded, looking slightly worse for wear but his spirits by no means dampened. "She'll be worried about us by now, we've been gone ages."

"I'm meeting a friend, I'm sure she'll know where to start looking for your friends," John offered.

Sora grinned at him. "Thanks! We'd better stick around in case there's more heartless nearby. I'd hate for something to happen to you out here by yourself,"

John laughed good-naturedly. "Thanks! All right then, you two ready?"

They made a good steady pace that carried them over the terrain, encountering just a few heartless that mostly ran away when they saw them coming. Sora commented on the odd behaviour, but Ven didn't seem to take much notice, so he filed it away for future reference if need be. The forest gave way to a wide river which they crossed carefully, and then scuttled up a steep incline to a flat clearing by a pool of water next to an enormous weeping willow.

A tall, dark skinned woman with long, flowing black hair raced to meet them, flinging her arms around John's neck. She looked up at the sound of a twig snapping as Sora took a step back, and she gasped with recognition.

"You are friends of Aqua, Terra and Mel?"

"We sure are!" Sora jumped to attention with the news.

"Do you know where to find them?" Ven added hastily.

"Through there," she pointed to a place beyond the tree. "They have been looking for you,"

Ven hurtled off without a second thought, and Sora stayed long enough to say, "Thanks again, John! Let us know if you see any more heartless,"

John chuckled and waved. "Take care, Sora!"

Sora bent his steps in the direction Ven had gone, and as he cleared the last few branches and gazed onto the dimly lit shoreline of the river, something grabbed him painfully by the shoulders and he yelped with surprise.

"_Where have you been_?" Aqua hissed, holding him in a vice like grip.

"We got ambushed!" he said quickly. He was really fond of Aqua; she was kind, funny, and smart – she understood all of his jokes. But she was pretty scary when she got mad, as Ven had kept insisting. Now Sora saw what he meant. "It wasn't out fault! But this guy – called John Smith – helped us escape,"

Aqua turned to look at Mel, who was having her hair ruffled by Terra. "Told you so." She said simply in that tone she had that never invited antagonism.

"Aqua, we've got a whole bunch of problems!" Sora said, waving his hands for emphasis and to get her attention. "There's this guy called Governor Ratcliffe, and he's sided with the heartless! He kept saying that there's gold here or something and the locals are trying to hide it from them, and using the heartless against the settlers. He's also got these weird black stones that suck your strength from you! We would've busted out by ourselves ages ago but we couldn't do any magic or form drives or anything! Ven kept falling asleep, and-!"

Ven scowled at him, then turned it on Terra as he swooped down on the younger man and shook him by the shoulders. "Don't go back to sleep, Ven!"

"Get off me!" he pushed Terra away with as much force as he could muster.

"Where is this Ratcliffe?" Aqua asked, ignoring the other two as Mel crowded closer to listen.

"There's a camp not too far from here, where we were taken after we got captured. There's loads of men there, but they shouldn't be too hard to deal with. The real problem are the heartless and those weird stones."

Aqua frowned, cocking her head to one side and thinking deeply, something he had seen Riku do loads of times before. "What did they look like?" she asked eventually.

"Huh? Err, well…" Sora had to really think. How would you describe it? "Kinda like a black hole, but you know it's really a rock. It even stopped me from summoning my keyblade."

Aqua blinked, and then blanched. "That's impossible!" she exclaimed, reeling with shock.

"There were seven of them in a line on the floor, and we hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a while. Maybe we were just too tired or something?" he suggested. "It really hurt my head!" he rubbed it now, remembering the lancing, shooting pain that had occurred when he tried to call his keyblade whilst near those stones.

Aqua looked deeply unnerved, but Mel looked thoughtful. "I think I heard something like that once."

"Huh?" Aqua turned to her instantly. "What was it?"

"I don't know. I can't remember. But, blocking the energy signature that allows you to summon the keyblade." She looked a bit frustrated. "It rings a bell, but I just can't think from where…"

"I'll have to look into that one." Aqua said eventually, looking upset by the thought.

Ven opened his mouth to speak, but he was drowned out by a terrible, air splitting roar from deep within the forest. They turned to face it, weapons in hand, but the heartless was heading away from them, towards the settlers' camp. They gave chase for a few moments, and Sora was prepared to run after it to the very edge of the world, but Aqua called him back.

"It's no use running around in the dark," she reasoned. "We'll have a better chance in the daylight. Besides-"

What else besides, they never found out. A loud crack, the unmistakable sound of a gun firing off, pierced the night, and they all exchanged worried looks before dashing back to the clearing. Sora skidded to a halt, kicking up a spray of mud and dirt as he took in the scene before them.

A man, dark skinned and wearing clothes similar to the woman, was lying on his back in the pool of water, eyes wide and lifeless. The woman herself was struggling against John to reach another man that Sora recognised from the settlers' camp, holding a gun and looking stunned.

"He killed him!" she woman shouted while John tried to placate her.

"Get outta here, Thomas." John called to the young man, who was trembling at the sound of shouts and yells from not far away through the trees. "Get outta here!" the lad nodded once before he pelted off into the darkness of the forest.

Aqua knelt beside the man in the water, and checked for a pulse. Mel crouched beside her and placed a hand over his heart and his solar plexus, but shook her head sadly.

"He's gone." She said simply.

Aqua gently raised her hand and closed his eyelids, her own eyes downcast with respect for the dead.

Sora yelped and jumped back with Ven as a flurry of activity burst onto the scene. More men, again dark skinned, ran into the clearing, and took John captive. Aqua and Mel swept out of the way as the fallen man was gently lifted and carried away while John was dragged.

"Pocahontas…" Aqua said softly, putting her hands on the woman's shoulders. "I'm sorry…"

She put her face in her hands and shook her head slowly, shoulders heaving.

"Hey, wait!" Sora shouted, running after John. "It wasn't him! Let him go!"

"This does not concern you!" one of the warriors snapped, hefting a nasty looking axe into his hands.

"But he's innocent! It wasn't John who shot him!"

"It wasn't!" Ven added his voice to the furore, which slowed the warriors down somewhat, but not by enough.

"Give it up, boys," John said in a subdued voice, a spear to his back and a knife to his throat.

"But it's not right!" Sora insisted.

"You!" a man shouted, brandishing a spear at them. "Kocoum was right! You really are no better than the pale faces!"

Sora stepped back in surprise, and then took another step back as Ven put himself in between them, keyblade in hand and scowling.

"This is _your fault_!" the man shouted, raising his weapon to strike, but another, older man stilled his hand.

"Let the chief decide. The wound is from the metal weapon of spark and flame, not their 'keyblades'. They did not kill Kocoum."

The younger warrior snarled, and Sora saw his deep anguish, and knew he was acting on impulse from deep emotion – he felt sorry for the man, but he was still concerned about John.

"You gotta believe me!" Sora tried to convince them as they got ready to leave. "John didn't do it!"

But no one was listening.

"We've gotta do something!" Ven said to Aqua as the men left them alone. "John saved us! We've gotta help him!"

Terra put a hand on Pocahontas' shoulder and said gently, "What exactly happened?"

Haltingly, she told them: John had said his people wanted war, and she had told him that hers did as well. Kocoum had attacked John, thinking she was in danger, and while she tried to help John fend him off – both unarmed – the other man had shot him with the gun.

"We shouldn't have left," Aqua said, anguished. "We should have stayed with you. I'm so sorry,"

"Guys," Mel said in a low voice, and they all turned to look at her. She raised her head, jaw held defiantly, a look Sora hadn't seen in her before; determination was etched into every line of her face. "If we want to save him and avert a war, we should probably get going."

"True," Ven nodded in agreement.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Sora demanded, and tore off after the party of warriors. "Let's go!"

XOXOX

Kairi wondered back into the entrance hall, to where Riku was sat just outside the doors watching the courtyard below. It was just after dusk, and the sky had taken on that deep blue that wasn't quite black; millions of stars shone in the clear cold sky around the sickle moon. Leo was draped over the stairs, his head in Riku's lap, humming in an agitated manner. They had kept this vigil since late that afternoon. Of course, Kairi was a bit nervous herself now, considering they should have been back a while ago, but that was nothing on how Riku was feeling. Lea had gone for a power nap, not too fussed about their absence, but when he woke up he'd probably start getting edgy too.

They had been building the structures Aqua had asked of them all day, and they were exhausted, in no condition to fight or to search for the others without becoming a liability themselves.

"Riku, come back inside. It's freezing out here!" they weren't quite used to the climate in this world – they lived on a lovely, warm tropical island where the only thing that was frosty was a type of iced drink.

"They should have been back hours ago." He said in a tight voice.

"Aqua and Terra are with them. If something's gone wrong, they'll be fine." She said, tugging at Riku's arm. His skin was cold. "You're going to catch pneumonia if you stay out here like this! If they get back late I'm sure they can find their way back inside,"

"What if something's gone badly wrong?" Riku snapped, shaking her away.

"Since when has Sora ever given up?" Kairi demanded.

"Oh, let me think," Riku said sarcastically, and her temper flared. "Not off the top of my head, but several times he's needed _me_ to drag him out of trouble! What if he's stuck or trapped and needs helps getting out of it?!"

"Because all those times, he didn't have anyone else with him! It's not like during your exam when you were separated. He went with four other people! It's much harder to get lost and up to your neck in trouble with that many people around to look after you. Get back inside before you die of hypothermia!"

Riku gave her a filthy look before he got stiffly to his feet. Leo croaked, slowly waking up and following them without a second thought back inside. Riku stomped up the stairs, and Kairi had to jog to keep up.

"I know they'll turn up." She said firmly. "Let's have something to eat, go to bed, and if they aren't back by the morning we'll go look for them. Agreed?"

"We should go looking for them _now_," Riku gave her a pained look.

"We're too tired after today to be of much help. C'mon, Riku! Use your head!" she poked him between the eyes and he swatted at her tiredly, missing by several inches. "What use would those reflexes be in a fight?"

Riku looked angry for a moment, and she thought he was going to shout at her, but he suddenly sagged and laughed, just a little to close to hysteria for comfort. "Okay, you win."

"Good!" she put her hands against his shoulder blades and pushed. "Now _bed_. If they're still missing in the morning, I'll help you look for them."

"Deal."

Leo looked upset that Mel wasn't home, and spent the night curled up outside her room where Kairi was sleeping, his head and neck stuck through the doorway that was too big to accommodate his massive shoulders and font legs. Kairi could have sworn the moment her head hit the pillow that Riku was barging his way past the poor dragon into the room, but when she looked up light was streaming through the window.

"It's morning, they're not here, get moving!" Riku said with single-minded determination as he ripped the covers from the bed.

"Riku!"

"I said move it!"

"Get out!" she shrieked at him, mortified.

"We had a deal!" Riku shouted at her, shaking with suppressed agitation and anxiety.

"Do you _want_ to see me getting changed?" she snapped. She was _so_ not taking any of his crap _this_ early in the morning.

Riku stared at her blankly before he realised what she meant. His anger drained away and left behind a deep awkwardness.

"Get out!" she said again, flinging the pillow at him as he retreated.

"Ten minutes!" he said over his shoulder before he tried to slam the door shut on Leo's nose.

This woke the dragon up completely, but he didn't take kindly to the rough treatment, and she heard Riku yelp as Leo pounced on him in anger and surprise.

"You sure got a way with women and animals!" came Lea's drawl as Kairi hastily threw on some clean clothes and scrabbled around for a hairbrush.

"Oh shut up!" Riku shouted at him loudly. "Kairi, hurry the hell up!"

Kairi didn't deign to respond beyond aiming a punch at him as she stalked out of the room. When they bolted down a hasty breakfast she said, more gently, "I know you're worried about them, but you don't have to take it out on us."

Riku gave her an anguished look, and when Lea disappeared after dumping his plate in the sink, he said, "Sora's my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him…"

"I know, but luckily you won't have to find out. Now let's go!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the kitchen.

XOXOX

It was with a brooding and ominous silence that they sat in council, not knowing what to say or do. Dawn was fast approaching, and they were no closer to solving any of the numerous problems. Aqua had pleaded with the Chief of the Powhatans, but he was enraged that a life had been taken, and since it was clear none of the keyblade wielders were responsible, he had asked her to keep out of their affairs. He was calling forth the 'drums of war' as he turned them away, and Mel's face had drained of blood. When asked, she said in most instances, this phrase was very powerful and didn't bode well at all – almost like a binding magical contract.

Aqua despaired at being able to do anything; it was imperative they keep the order of the worlds intact, so meddling had to be kept to an absolute minimum, and they had already been pushing it further than they really should have. But, they couldn't just let this go and turn a blind eye!

What would Master Eraqus have done? Aqua didn't know, and it pained her deeply. If ever she had needed her mentor's guidance during the time she had been a Master in her own right, it was now.

Mel kept standing up, walking around the clearing they had found to settle in, and then sitting down abruptly before repeating the same motions in a different direction and dropping to sit in a different location.

Ven and Sora sat moodily, one of them every so often fielding a suggestion before the other shot it down with cutting words.

Terra had dozed off, but only lightly – he was trying to rest up for whatever was ahead of them.

Aqua hung her head in despair. What was she going to _do_?

Suddenly Mel sprang to her feet and dashed out of the clearing without a word or a backwards glance. She sometimes did this, in the safety of their castle or the Committee's house in Radiant Garden – where she was safe and protected. Running into a heartless infested forest, _in the middle of the night_, completely alone, was more than Aqua could stand.

"Mel, come back!" she shouted, but the girl was already out of earshot.

"I'll go!" Ven said, jumping to his feet and racing after her.

Sora got to his knees, but thought better of it and sat back down again. "What're we gonna _do_?" he asked Aqua imploringly.

Aqua snarled to herself, rubbing her temples. "I don't know!" she hissed in her frustration. "I just don't know…"

Sora looked like he was about to say something, but he drooped and looked at the floor, almost defeated. "What would Riku do?" he asked aloud, and then laughed, losing his sombre air. "He'd probably hit me and tell me to stop being a dweeb! We'll think of something,"

Despite the direness of the situation, Aqua smiled. Sora was one of those rare people that could make you smile in almost any situation. Under less pressing circumstances, he was a joy to be around.

They stayed in silence a while longer, each inwardly meditating on the crisis at hand; Terra stirred from his restless sleep and sat up to join in the thinking, and they all jumped when something came crashing into their midst without warning.

"Ven!" Terra snapped, getting over his heart attack.

"We have an idea!" he announced, breathless as Mel skidded into the clearing, followed closely by Pocahontas, who was holding something in her hand.

"What is it?" Aqua said quickly, getting up and running to them, the others on her heels.

"I know," Pocahontas said, trembling with excitement and anticipation. "I know my path now!" she held up the object, which turned out to be a compass. "I know what I must do, but I need your help. I don't have anyone else to turn to,"

"Whatever you need, we'll help." Sora said before anyone else could get a word in, and they all nodded in agreement.

"The heartless, the demons, bar my path. I can't fight them all alone. And I can't stand-alone against the tides of war. I need help."

"You have our support." Terra said reassuringly. "What do you need us to do first?"

They quickly marshalled themselves to order, shared out what was left of their supplies according to need and position, and left swiftly. Terra and Aqua would be bringing up the rear, and Sora and Ven would be ploughing ahead; Mel and Pocahontas in the middle of the group, dealing out supportive magic and items to the others and setting the pace, which was quite fast. Making headway wasn't a problem, it was the heartless that followed in their wake and that threatened to separate them from the group; Mel had to hurl a few well chosen spells into their midst to get them out of a few tricky situations that could fall down that slippery slope.

Aqua could now see the wisdom of Terra's power nap – she wanted to collapse and go to sleep, but too much was riding on them getting to their destination ASAP. Not just for them, innocent lives were at stake; it was their duty to protect them, even if they were now directly meddling in the affairs of another world. Rules, Master Eraqus had once told her, were there for a reason, but at times necessity dictated that you bent them to your will to avert a greater evil.

Most of the heartless were dispatched, but a few escaped their strikes to run along behind them, but when Aqua halted in her forward march to brandish her keyblade at them, they scurried into the shadows and took a while to return.

As the sky was beginning to turn red, Ven started flagging, and slowing down. He hadn't fully recovered from his imprisonment, and he was pushing himself to his limits now. He stopped long enough to take a drink and half a potion before he fell back into position, but it was clear he wasn't keeping up; Sora slowed his pace to try and match Ven's, but it didn't help much. Instead, Mel swapped places and started a relentless forward drive that seemed to scare the heartless into complete hiding, which made Aqua's job a lot easier. The girl fairly blazed with an inner fire that she somehow kept burning even when she started flagging as well. She had amazing endurance and stamina, but she wasn't a sprinter – she didn't have the build, and compared to Sora her legs were incredibly short. But Aqua didn't want her in the back row, where she could easily be separated from the group due to her slower pace; kept at the front, she had the incentive to go faster and people behind her to make sure she wasn't separated.

A low but carrying sound started thrumming in the distance, and it sounded oddly familiar until Aqua placed it in her memories. A deep, resonating _thump_ of many drums that carried far even through the trees. It stirred them into a faster pace than ever, because it signalled the approach of an army, but the memories were more pleasant in this violent situation. Leo could make a deep, grunting roar that seemed low in volume, but carried incredibly far, and could be used to locate him if all else failed – that's what it had reminded her of.

"Look!" Sora shouted as they finally broke out of the forest onto a wide-open space of flat earth that had been uprooted and recompacted.

There was a slight rise near the centre, with a large bolder, and the Powhatans crowded behind it. Beyond it they could see the settlers, in full armour and bearing much more powerful weapons that the villagers. Splayed across a large flat stone on the rise, hands bound, was John Smith; above him stood the Chief, raising a large club and readying to strike.

Aqua took a matter of seconds to take stock of the situation before she reacted. Pocahontas burst through the knot of people, and Aqua threw up a shield around her to protect her in case any projectiles were let lose before the command was given. Mel ran after her, a shield hung around herself already, but one so closely contained it was like a second skin.

"No!" Pocahontas shouted, throwing herself across John as the club started its deadly arc downwards.

The Chief reeled with surprise and manoeuvred it harmlessly aside. Aqua and the others came to a half, panting heavily and waiting for events to unfold before they reacted. Ven was almost on his knees, and only got up after Sora forced a hi-potion down his throat and Terra pulled him to his feet again.

"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me to." Pocahontas said, with such forthright conviction Aqua was sure in that moment that she could change the course of the fight without their help.

"Daughter," the Chief said in a carrying, ringing voice that all assembled could hear. "Stand _back_."

"I won't!" she retorted, arms held protectively around John. "I love him, Father."

Everyone seemed to stand back in a state of shock from this confession, especially the large man in black armour leading the settlers that Sora had told them about. Aqua smiled to herself; when they had hatched their plan on the spot, they had decided outright honesty their best defence, but also…in all of her experience, love was the ruling, conquering, _deciding_ factor. Love was what brought people together under one banner – what had brought her friends back to her. In a hate filled conflict, love could be like a soothing balm on broken and distraught hearts.

"Look around you!" Pocahontas said defiantly. "This is where the path of hatred has brought us!" laying her head down against John's and with her eyes closed, she said, "This is the path I choose, Father. What will yours be?"

The Chief looked first from his daughter, and then to the gathered men on the field that had been intended for battle. The settlers raised their guns, and the village warriors raised their bows and spears in readiness. Aqua prepared her manna and held her weapon in the ready position, knowing that Terra and Sora behind her were doing the same while Ven prepared his own magic.

A breeze, trailing soft, warm coloured leaves breathed through the ranks of men from all sides and swirled around him. Mel lowered her keyblade, and a few of the settlers lowered their guns as well in awe; she raised a hand, making a sign Aqua knew was meant to convey respect and thanks to the hearts of spirits. As the settlers stood down, so did the villagers begin to as well.

The Chief looked at his club, at first raised for bloodthirsty intent, and then he held it with his hands widely spaced apart and held it above his head in the warm breeze, addressing the men congregated around him, the mass of people who had gathered to spill blood in hatred.

"My daughter speaks with the wisdom beyond her years. We've all come here with anger in our hearts, but she comes with courage and understanding!" he lowered the club so the large knotted head was against the ground, holding it like a staff. "From this day forward, if there is to be more killing, it will not start with me."

Aqua grinned when she heard Sora hiss, "Yes!" triumphantly beside her.

The Chief turned to the man closest to him and said, "Release him."

Obediently, the man stepped forward and took a knife, which he used to cut the bonds that held John's hands together. Freed, he stood for a moment, looking deeply into Pocahontas' eyes before they were in each other's arms, happy and relieved for each other's safety. Aqua felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find a pair of dark, impossibly deep blue eyes looking back at her. Anyone who had been bearing arms still now laid them down, ready to raise their hands in friendship instead. It was profoundly moving, and Aqua was glad and pleased they had averted such a conflict.

Mel tensed suddenly and raised her keyblade, which alerted Aqua to some remaining discord.

The Governor Ratcliffe stepped forth boldly and shouted, "Now's our chance! Fire!"

"No!" said a young man, not long since a boy still. But he spoke with such sure authority it was hard to doubt him.

"What?!" thundered the governor, struck by insubordination form his men.

"They let him go!" the young man said.

Another older man, with black hair added his voice to the mutiny. "They don't _want_ to fight!" he pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's a trick!" Ratcliffe insisted, trying to rally them to his futile cause. "Don't you see? _Fire_!"

The men of the settlers looked sullen, and many crossed their arms, frowning deeply and making no move to comply with the demand. Ratcliffe's hands visibly shook, the sword he carried jerking before he threw it down and grabbed a loosely held gun from another man close by.

"Fine! I'll settle this myself!" he shouted, taking aim.

What happened next went so quickly Aqua didn't quite keep up with the events until it was too late. A large, black stone came hurtling out of nowhere and landed in their midst just before the governor pulled the trigger. Aqua tried to react instinctively as John jumped up and threw himself at the Chief, but something dark and ominous, and terribly heavy pressed against her mind and blocked the flow of magic – she couldn't throw up a shield or palling to protect any of them, and she gasped with horror as John fell to the ground, a bullet in his side. Pocahontas and Mel rushed to his side, but Mel swayed dangerously and almost keeled over herself. Ven fell to his knees despite Sora's best efforts to keep him on his feet, and Terra almost dropped too, gasping for air. What _was_ this menacing presence? At least her keyblade was firmly in her hand. It would take a lot to force it to part from her.

Several men in the ranks of the village warriors shouted their alarm and dismay, but it was nothing to the uproar among the settlers

"John!" the young man shouted, making to run towards his fallen comrade. He rounded on Ratcliffe, righteous anger etched into every line of his youthful face. "You shot him!"

"He- he stepped right into it! It was his own fault-!" Ratcliffe began, but his last tenuous hold over the men had already been severed.

"Smith was right, we should have never listened to you!" someone yelled, and they descended upon him like a pack of wolves defending their family.

Mel stood up, swaying violently, but she shouted and managed to make herself heard. "GET BACK!"

The men were bowled over by a surge of darkness, and Ratcliffe straightened up slowly while the men lay on the ground, stunned. He flicked a spot of dirt from his sleeve and watched them with contempt. "Turn on _me_, will you? I have another _ace_ up my sleeve. Pete!"

And Pete appeared out of nowhere, holding another black stone which he threw straight at Sora. The boy yelped and dodged out of the way before whacking it with his keyblade to rid them of the horrible sensations it brought.

"Heheheh! How's about _this_ for ya?!"

Behind him manifested a heartless, even more dark and menacing than the ones they had already encountered. It was a huge, grotesque, bear-shaped monstrosity – covered in segments of armour that grew from its black body. The markings of red and yellow were contorted; jagged lines of no meaning, and consequence only of maddened rage. Something akin to a gattling gun was perched on its right shoulder, and something was slowly brewing within the barrel. It threw its head back and roared long and terrible, the note undulating in a horrible parody of a wolf's with none of the unearthly beauty – a terrible noise that filed against your nerves like a cheese grater. It raised up onto its hind legs as Pete disappeared, and Sora made to chase after him, ire in his eyes, but Terra grabbed him by the arm.

"Forget him! We've got bigger problems!"

Mel turned to the Chief and started giving orders that the man obeyed without a second thought. They took John, still wounded, and retreated while Mel yelled for the settlers to do the same. The young man made to join the fight, but he was bundled back by his friends to a safe distance.

Aqua ran forward to intercept the heartless as it chased after John, and it came to a ploughing stop to roar in her face, still charging something in its mounted weapon. Ven rallied himself to join in, but stayed back far enough to remain out of harms way while keeping the villagers covered; Sora barrelled past, keyblade in hand and snarling with anger.

"You want some!" he shouted at the heartless as Terra tried to curb his taunts.

"Watch the gun on its back!" Mel shouted at them.

The heartless lowered its head, pawing at the ground before it roared again and charged. Aqua was nearly flattened, and only just got out of the way in time; it swerved violently to avoid Terra, who stood his ground and held his keyblade out point first and yelled in its face. Sora struck out and it doubled back, sighting Mel and making a beeline for her. Aqua was about to attempt some stupid feat to reach her in time, but Mel thought of a plan quickly and put it into action. She took the black stone that had been thrown her way earlier, shuddering and recoiling from the contact, and hurled it at the heartless.

Mel's aim was true, and she struck it between the eyes where it embedded itself in the flesh of the heartless. It roared louder than ever, this time from pain, and tried to claw the stone from its face. While it was distracted, Terra and Sora closed in and started beating it back with heavy blows, herding it away from the men gathered at the edges of the field. Aqua threw her hand in, chancing magic attacks though she knew her potions were dwindling in number by now.

On top of their mad dash to get here, and the sleepless night they had spent looking for Ven and Sora, coupled with their worried and mostly fruitless planning, this was a very gruelling battle. Ven stood his ground and batted the heartless back each time it tied to get past him to the villagers, and Sora took up a similar stance before the settlers. Between them, Aqua and Terra kept the heartless running back and forth between the two boys, and Mel dashed in and out dealing punishing blows in fits and starts that were starting to take a toll.

And yet, the power within the gun mounted on the heartless' shoulder continued to gather strength, if somewhat slowly compared to the pace of the battle. But if they kept this up, by the time they were spent, the heartless would have a horrible attack lined up for them that might just finish them off.

It was getting desperate, and in an attempt to maintain safety the villagers had started escorting the settlers into the forest and showed them were to hide, to keep them all safe and out of the way while the warriors of the keyblade did battle on the open plane.

Mel was lagging alarmingly, she couldn't possibly keep it up any longer; Terra ran in to take up the slack and Aqua dragged her out of the melee to give her a potion to keep her on her feet.

"It's impossible!" Mel said, on the verge of tears from lack of sleep and prolonged exhaustion. "It's too powerful! What are we doing to do?!"

Aqua had been thinking the same thing, but she didn't answer in time – they were both knocked to their feet. A huge and heavy paw pressed against her chest, over her pounding heart, and a terrible black face with flat yellow eyes like dim lanterns, was pressed into her entire field of vision.

The choking sensation, the stench of darkness, those _eyes_…

Memories she had thought no longer caused her concern flared up in her minds eye, and all she could see was Terra with shocking white hair, unfamiliar eyes and contorted expressions that frightened her to her core. The blackness spread, and as she slid under she felt something deep inside her surge with a sudden explosion of newfound energy, adding fresh rage to her depleting reserves that motivated her to fight back.

No! That hadn't been Terra, and it certainly wasn't him now! There were people relying on them for their safety, and they in turn were relying on _her_.

_I won't give in!_

Though Aqua struggled, and the heartless started to back up, it wasn't enough to break free completely, and beside her Mel was fighting against the tendrils of darkness, an unfamiliar snarl on her face on her face that gave her the impression of a feral animal that was tearing its way out of a tight corner.

Another roar, achingly, _beautifully_ familiar, echoed across the open land and the heartless reeled in confusion right before it was bowled over and went sprawling with a great trench of ripped earth in its wake. Aqua got unsteadily to her feet, but not before Mel had run to the new comer and flung her arms around their neck.

Leo stood in a defensive crouch, teeth bared and visible beneath his great armoured helmet. He roared defiantly at the heartless and pawed the ground with his right hand, gouging great lines in the broken earth. He had never looked more terrifying, and Aqua had never been so glad to see him.

Mel climbed up onto his back, stooping to find the clip from the saddle, and attaching it to the straps about her chest in the absence of her riding harness. Leo stood up to his full height on his hind legs, raking the air with his front paws, and Mel braced herself against his back, leaning with the motion to stay upright and brandishing her keyblades either side of his withers to anticipate attack from any angle.

"Where did he come from?!" Ven shouted, running to Aqua's side.

"Who cares!" she called back. They had an advantage now – Leo was fresh, and he was considerably bigger and more physically powerful than they were. If she could _just_ think of a way to use this to their advantage…

The heartless snarled, its nose curling viciously, right before it charged. Leo roared and bounded up to meet it, Mel leaning back against the motion and maintaining balance. They crashed in the middle of the field, with an all mighty sonorous ringing of colliding metal; the heartless lost its footing and stumbled to one side as the dragon bore down on it, teeth sinking into flailing limbs and claws ripping at exposed flesh. It screamed in agony and tried to bolt, but Leo wouldn't have any of it; he grabbed the creature with his front legs and angled his body around so that Mel could aim a few good blows at the gun on its back. Roaring in fear and pain, the heartless tried again to break free, but Leo got a hold of its neck with his teeth and pulled in a motion that on a normal animal would have dispatched its spine in one go.

But this wasn't a normal animal.

The heartless decided retreat was futile, and stood firm to face the dragon, screaming weak defiance. It got out of his grip and went pelting towards Aqua and the others who had fallen back to regroup before it managed to reach them it discharged the power it had been storing in the gun in a single and devastating attack.

Everything went white, and Aqua's whole body seized up. It wasn't like Leo's paralysing roar that made everything hum and spin – this was an involuntary stilling of the limbs, like a Stop spell, but it caused a lot of pain and damage. Sora was the first to recover, and he stood swaying on the spot before he raised his keyblade and forced himself to cast a Curaga spell that depleted all of his magic for the moment. They got to their feet, and dived out of the way as the heartless charged, now completely spent in its own magicks for the moment, though Aqua could feel the gathering start again.

Leo bounded up into the air and circled the field before plummeting down and landing heavily of the heartless' back. It roared with surprise and tried to retaliate, to little avail. Mel started pummelling it with short strokes and a multitude of light but continuous spells, striking physically at the gun and magically at its face. Sora and Ven rushed to help, with Aqua right on their heels, but they had to scatter when it finally threw Leo off and Mel at last lost her footing, getting tangled in the straps that held her on his back and dangling down against his side. He had to pull back and give her time to recover, otherwise she was at risk of grievous injury, which gave the heartless time to organise another attack. It descended upon Sora, the nearest one, and slashed at him with a forepaw that made him crumble to the ground with alarming swiftness. It pinned him there as Ven ran to his aid, brushing him off with little effort. Sora struggled, but stilled for one long, horrible moment, and the gun started stirring much faster than before. Aqua suddenly understood – the fatigue they felt wasn't entirely from their sleepless night, now turning to morning – the heartless was drawing power from them slowly, so magic and potions didn't fortify them as much as they should; Sora was a great reservoir of energy that could charge it up much faster.

A manic laugh reached Aqua's ears and she tore herself away from Sora to look at Ratcliffe, holding a black stone in his hand and grinning at her nastily. "Say good bye to your little friend!"

Aqua snarled in response, but blinked and stepped back automatically as Leo made a dash for him, Mel still not quite untangled from the harness. Ratcliffe's smile faltered, and then he screamed as the dragon bore down on him. Growling with rage, Leo took the man's head completely in his mouth and closed his jaws, trapping him; he twisted somewhat gently considering his anger, and the man fell to the floor, blood stained and unconscious, but neither dead or mortally wounded, just incapacitated.

Mel had lost what little balance she had before Leo's charge, and Aqua ran to help her detangle herself and get back on her feet.

"Its drawing energy from us for the gun!" she said urgently. "It's feeding off Sora! You have to stop it somehow,"

Leo nodded once and was off again, flying swift and low. The heartless let go of Sora as he careened into it, and Terra grabbed him before he could be trampled underfoot. Leo got his jaws around the gun that was starting to charge and ready for the attack that had knocked them all for sixes. He strained to break it free, and Aqua was afraid he would get the full blast of the shockwave at this rate. Mel unclipped herself and jumped onto its back, using her blades to prise the gun from underneath like a lever. They strained together while the heartless struggled, until it gave way suddenly. The gun went flying across the field and landed in a section of broken earth, the sudden discharge instead bringing renewed vigour to Aqua's body – it must have returned what it had borrowed; Sora was back on his feet and running into the fray in a heartbeat, tired but determined. The heartless threw both Mel and Leo off and made a run for it; Sora ran after it while Leo made a move to block its path, snarling and growling form a place deep in his ribcage. Sora jumped onto his back, and held a hand out to Mel to swing her up as well.

"Let us help!" said a voice, and Aqua turned to see the young man that had spoken out against the governor, followed by a legion of men with guns, spears and arrows all at the ready.

Aqua stared at them in amazement before she nodded and turned her attention back to the fight. "Don't hit the dragon, he's a friend. Surround the heartless as best you can and wait for the signal!"

They formed a ring around the scraping beasts, and Leo seemed to be vaguely aware of them because he stopped short a few moves that would have pitched either himself or the heartless into their midst.

"Get back!" Aqua shouted to Ven and Terra, who bolted when they saw the line around them. Raising her keyblade, Aqua ignored the sweat pouring from her brow, and watched with her breath held for the right moment. She needed her allies to be out of the way…

Mel pulled up sharply and Leo jumped into the way, flapping his wings clumsily to clear the area in time and avoid the heartless that snapped at him as he went. Sora and Mel were securely on his back and well out of the way as Aqua brought her blade down in one motion, shouting, "FIRE!"

Bullets, spears and arrows came flying from all directions and embedded in the heartless. It screamed in response, but it was pinned to the ground by several well-aimed spears through its feet and hind leg. Leo dived like a bullet himself and landed on its hide quarters, further pinioning it into submission. Sora jumped from Leo's shoulder onto its back and signalled to Terra who was closest for help, and he ran to Sora's aid.

Together, while Mel and Leo held it in place, they dealt the finishing blow that dispatched it completely, and finally.

It faded into nothingness, its captive heart returning to the heavens above, as everyone collapsed in various stages of exhaustion. Only Leo remained unaffected, and after he straightened out a dent and a few kinks in his armoured tail, he started bestowing upon Mel his own brand of affection, forgetting she was dead on her feet and that he was clad in armour.

"Leo!" she croaked, flattened against the ground. "Can't-! Breathe!"

Leo crowed with happiness and tried to snuggle up with her, still unaware of the discomfort he was causing her. Aqua staggered forward and held his armoured head, willing the armour to disappear, and then he pounced on her, no longer clad in metal but still heavy enough to knock her over. He stared in surprise as Aqua fell back without resistance, and lay panting on the ground. To Leo, Aqua was someone who didn't go down so easily; he sensed something was wrong and scuttled over to her, head lowered in submission. He settled down on the ground beside her and nudged her with his muzzle, making little mewing sounds of distress that had never failed to elicit a response in the past.

Aqua smiled tiredly and raised a hand to stroke his face. "Thank you, Leo. You saved us…" he licked her hand appealingly before scuttling back to check on Mel, who had risen to her knees, and then decided she would rather just lie down face first in the dirt than try to actually get up. "Are you okay?" Aqua called to her.

"No."

"Are you still alive?"

"…No…"

"Okay."

Leo was poking at her, and then he got his teeth into the back of her shirt and lifted her from the ground to deposit Mel on his back.

"Leo!"

His head snapped up and he bounded towards Terra without a second thought, almost knocking him over as well but stopping just short enough to avoid it, sensing he was also exhausted.

"I have _never_ been so pleased to see you!" Terra said, wrapping his arms around the dragon's foreleg and leaning on him for support.

Leo crowed happily and sat back on his hind legs, grooming the dust and dirt out of Terra's hair with a happy humming while Ven and Sora mustered themselves. Aqua had managed to sit up, and wiped the sweat form her face before Ven collapsed beside her, trying to get his arms around her the way he used to when he was younger and seeking comfort.

"Can we go home now?" he begged dully. "I miss my pillow…"

Aqua patted his hair vaguely and accepted Sora's hand to help her to her feet. Ven didn't want to get up, and sprawled dramatically at their feet in his insistence of staying put. Smiling tiredly and leaning on Sora for support, Aqua was about to say something, but they heard more shouts and she turned reluctantly to see what the fuss was about.

Ratcliffe had come to, but he had been bound and gagged and was being born back to the encampment; Mel was talking to one of the men from the village, and handing him something from one of her pouches and gesturing with her hands, giving instructions that seemed destined for John's care. The man eyed the dragon carefully, but Leo had collapsed to the ground alongside Terra and was happily grooming him like a docile cat, which seemed to give the terrifying apparition a less scary aura. The man nodded his thanks and tore off across the battlefield with Mel's medicines as Ratcliffe struggled uselessly; as the man disappeared in the tide of warriors from both sides, someone else joined the throng, but they were heading towards the dragon fearlessly.

"SORA!"

He whipped around at the sound of his name, and grinned. "Riku! Hey, Kairi!" he waved manically, finding a new burst of energy and made to run towards them, but Riku flattened him in his haste and held him fast with a vice like grip. "Ouch! Hey-!"

"Where the _hell_ have you been?!" Riku shouted at him, shaking him fiercely, his eyes betraying his worry though his anger was certainly not an act. "You should have been back _hours_ ago! What if you got killed?! Where the hell have you _been_?!"

"Right here." Sora blinked, not comprehending the source of Riku's wrath. "Oh, Riku!" his face fell. "The knife you gave me – I lost it!"

"What?" It was Riku's turn to blink in surprise. "So?"

"I got captured and they took it off me, and I never got it back before we escaped! I don't know where it is now, I'm so sorry!"

Riku shook his head, and then shook Sora some more. "You think I'd care about something like that? You could have been dead for all we knew! You're such an idiot!"

"Hey!" Sora spat back, managing to push Riku off of him and stand his ground, though he swayed with fatigue. "I just helped to avert a war! What have _you_ done, lately?"

"Looking for you, dumbass!" Riku shouted at him.

"I don't need looking for, idiot!" Sora yelled back, both of them annoyed with each other. "I had Aqua with me! Did you think we couldn't look after each other or something?"

"I didn't know what to think when you still weren't back this morning! Anything could have happened!"

Kairi walked over to Aqua sedately and put her arms around her waist. "Hello."

"Hi," Aqua leaned on her for support. "Sorry we made you worry. We had a bit of a situation on our hands."

"Riku was really worried when you didn't come back last night."

They turned to look at the two boys, now shaking each other to try and get their point across to one another. Sora suddenly sagged and fell to his knees before curling up on the ground, making Riku even more agitated with worry.

"Oh _shut up_!" Sora shouted as Riku started looking through his supplies for a hi-potion. "You'd be tired too if you'd been up the whole dang night!"

"Hello, ladies." Lea drawled as he sauntered into their midst. "What's all this then?"

"Thanks for nothing," Terra muttered darkly as Leo tugged on his arm guard in a weak gesture of play, as if he knew he wouldn't get what he wanted. "Could've used some help just now! Where the hell were you?"

"Looking for you." Lea said, deftly lifting Ven to his feet, though Ven protested and tried to reach the comfortable ground again to lie down. "Leo jumped ship on us, it took a while to notice at first. We figured he knew the way to go to find you, but we didn't know where to find _him_, so we just took our sweet time in getting here. Got it memorised?"

"I hate you." Terra said, leaning against Leo's side. "I wanna go home now."

As they slowly rallied themselves, speaking to settlers and villagers alike as they went, Aqua followed Mel feeling worried about her. She had an uncomfortable expression on her face, and kept twitching with something that looked like an ache of some description. Terra clapped her on the back, and she nearly lost her balance; Leo snapped his jaws at Terra in anger and shepherded Mel away from him, glowering over his shoulder.

"What's wrong with you then?" Lea asked, hands on his hips and looking down at her searchingly.

Mel wriggled with discomfort before saying, "I could _kill_ for a bacon sandwich right now."

XOXOX


	13. In Preparation

**AN: I am surprised with the speed with which this got written xD the next update may take a while to take into consideration my health and the fact that a LOT of stuff will happen which will require a LOT of thought ;) **

**Whelp, hope you enjoy this chapter – please leave me a review and some feedback on what you thought, it is greatly appreciated and virtual cookies go out to those who do! :P**

_**In Preparation**_

A day after they got back from James' Town, everyone had started to recover somewhat. Aqua wasn't willing to push them after such a long and gruelling exercise, and truth be known she wasn't prepared to deal with Sora and Ven once they got their second wind; by the evening of the day they returned home they were running around together playing keyblade tag and laughing while Riku still fumed at them. He was intensely relieved that no one was badly hurt beyond a staggering exhaustion that several solid hours of sleep would fix, but Sora's vague acceptance of the situation irked him greatly.

After fifteen glorious hours of sleep, Aqua slowly dragged herself back to the realm of the living and shuffled around the castle, trying to find some semblance of order. Mel decided to keep resting even if she was awake, and after eating breakfast crawled back into bed to read a book quietly. Leo had tried to get her to come outside and play, but she point blank refused to leave the refuge of her bed apart from to refill her glass of water. Instead, he skulked off in a huff and saw Ven and Sora playing a game outside with Kairi in the courtyard, and he bounded after them to join in, forgetting Mel's treachery. Lea surreptitiously kept them from going anywhere near the project they had been working on in Aqua's absence, and she felt it safe enough to leave him to it. That just left Terra, who wasn't in his room or in the kitchen when she went looking.

Aqua found him on the sofa in the common room, having attempted to read and now napping instead. He couldn't have had much more sleep than her, and yet he was clutching a book on advanced spell casting and had made a real concerted effort to keep studying. It was touching, especially when she had been expecting him to take such an opportunity to relax. He looked so peaceful, splayed out like that on his side, completely oblivious; his face wasn't lined with concern, or laughter – just calm and serene in sleeps embrace.

Smiling to herself, Aqua knelt down by the armrest where his head was propped up on a cushion and a wadded up jumper. She stroked his face, feeling the warmth of his skin and letting her fingers trail through his thick, messy hair. Terra shifted in his sleep, trying to edge closer to the contact. He looked as she remembered him from her childhood, as if the years of his adolescence and adulthood had never happened.

Terra groaned in his sleep, and shuffled around so he was lying on his back, inadvertently giving her better scope to touch his face. He looked adorable, and she wanted to tell him, but Aqua was certain he wouldn't take kindly to the notion. It was an affront to manliness to call a guy 'adorable' or 'cute', but that didn't stop it from being true. On impulse, Aqua leant over and bent down towards him, so she was hovering over his face upside down. She kissed him, light and soft, and he stirred groggily in response. When she pulled back to adjust her purchase on the armrest, his eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at her unseeingly.

"Good morning, sleepy head." She said pleasantly.

"Aqua?" he yawned widely, a hand cast over his face for the moment. "What're you doing in here? Go away…"

"Charming." She said, raising an eyebrow. "It's a free country. And more importantly, _my_ castle."

"It's _my_ room." He said, picking up the book and dumping it over his face, hands folded against his stomach. "I'm tired…"

"Guess again!" she said, hooking her fingers beneath the cover of the book and flicking it over the edge of the sofa.

Terra glowered at her, and then looked around the room and groaned, ramming the heel of his palm into his temple. "Oh no…"

"What?" she asked, poking his neck with encouragement. She was inwardly laughing, but tried to keep a motherly expression on her face.

"I fell asleep again…"

"I could sleep for a week after that little exercise. So?"

"I was trying to read-" he flashed her an annoyed look before reaching for his book. "I thought I needed some practise." He brushed the dust from the cover and checked the spine for damage.

"How early were you up reading?"

"Seven."

"Terra, you know I would've let it slide this once, right?" she asked, raising a finger for emphasis while the fingers of her other hand stroked his hair absentmindedly. "I could probably go back to sleep now, too."

"I thought this was important to you?" he asked, surprised as he looked up at her, his eyes deep and sincere.

"Am I _that_ much of a slave driver?" she demanded playfully, slapping his shoulder. "Terra, I don't want you to work yourself into your grave!"

Terra shrugged and yawned again. "I thought I'd slept enough yesterday…where're the others then?"

"Mel's in bed reading, but she's probably asleep too. Sora and Ven are outside…being Sora and Ven. Riku and Kairi are keeping them in line."

"Uh-huh." He nodded eyes closed. "So what about you?"

Aqua smiled deviously, running her fingers through his hair again. "Watching my little prince sleep and dream happy dreams!"

Terra's eyes shot open and he snarled at her, raising his hand with the book in it and whacking her on the side of the head. "What?" he snapped.

"My little prince!" she cooed, nuzzling his neck and hugging him tightly despite the awkward angle. "And his happy dreams!"

"Let go of me!"

"Never!"

They tussled for a bit, but soon they both gave in, still sore and aching from their exertions the day and preceding night before. Terra flopped against the sofa, huffing loudly and looked annoyed, and Aqua couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled in her throat from escaping. She traced the planes of his cheeks with her fingers, smiling down on him from her vantage point while he stubbornly ignored her.

"You're too easy to wind up,"

"Oh _shut up_…" he sighed.

Aqua laughed, brushing her fingers against his lips. "Terra," she said, shaking her head and giggling.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, a smile pulling at his mouth. Then he chuckled to himself and raised a hand to poke her in the face. "Your nose looks weird from this angle," he said, turning his head this way and that to change the perspective. He looked a bit odd from this view too, upside down to her eyes. "Kinda cute in a weird and annoying way."

Aqua closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. She squeaked with surprise when he leaned up to kiss her, and she yielded to him, smiling when she felt his own fingers trailing through her hair and tracing the lines of her face. Kissing from this angle was somewhat unusual, and sort of nice – quite different but nonetheless enjoyable. Apart from the new angle, something felt…different, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Something about the way Terra was kissing her, like an edge she hadn't detected before, an undercurrent…

"Oh gees!" Ven said loudly, breaking them apart with a start. He made a sound like a wounded animal and stalked back out of the room.

"Hey, wait!" Sora bounded into the room and skidded to a halt as Terra was reluctantly sitting up straight, looking very annoyed. "Ven!" Sora shouted, storming back out again. "You said there was cake!

"Found it," Riku called from down the corridor.

"Oh boy!"

"Hey! Quit pushing me!" Ven shouted at him.

"Me first!" Kairi chimed.

"No way," it sounded like Riku was trying to wrestle her into submission. "I get first dibs!"

"Says _who_!" Sora challenged, just before everyone yelped and the sounds of bodies hitting the walls and floor reached their ears.

Leo's small, short roar effectively shut everyone up, and they grumbled as they filed into the kitchen. Leo wondered into the common room, where Aqua was perched on the arm of the sofa, feeling let down; Terra stared angrily at the book he had been reading, not looking at her with his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Leo plonked himself down alongside the sofa and rubbed his face against Aqua, crooning with content.

"Those kids," she said aloud to no one in particular, scratching him under his chin. The stiff feathers underneath his jaw had thickened, but not really lengthened much, and had turned a bright purple. "What am I going to do with them?"

"Can we tie Ven in a sack and throw him over a cliff?" Terra muttered darkly, making her giggle.

Leo snorted and shook his head violently at the suggestion, before slowly getting to his feet, filling the space between the floor and the ceiling. He shook himself to stretch his limbs before turning and padding out of the room. How big was he now? He _must_ be nearing adolescence… Aqua voiced this thought, and Terra shrugged, still annoyed.

"Oh grow up," she said, snatching the book from his hands and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Aqua!" Terra protected, getting annoyed with her now. "I was trying to read that!"

"Come on, grumpy guts," she said, taking his hands and pulling him to his feet. "I heard there was cake,"

Terra made a noise of disgust and shook out of her hold to sit back down; arms folded and shoulders set – full sulk mode.

Aqua sighed and sat back down on the arm of the sofa. "Fine. What's wrong with you, then?"

"Just go away," he muttered, turning his back on her.

Aqua raised an eyebrow, but before she could think of anything to say Sora bounced into the room and draped himself over the back of the sofa between them.

"Cake anyone?" he asked, holding two thick slices in one hand whilst he stuffed a third into his mouth with the other.

"Thanks, Sora!" Aqua grinned, taking one and tucking in with relish.

"Hey Terra," Sora said, trying to get his attention. When that failed, he shuffled closer and started wafting the cake slice in his face in what may have meant to be a seductive dance. "I dare you to find a tastier piece of cake than this!" he said in a singsong voice.

The frown Terra had been clinging to cracked wide open and he laughed, accepting the cake graciously. "Thanks,"

"Cake, Leo!" Sora shouted, running out of the room. "Hey! Anyone seen Mel?"

"She's hibernating."

"She can't miss cake!" he shouted, aghast at the idea.

Aqua slid onto the sofa beside Terra, who was eating the cake like a hamster. She giggled and brushed the crumbs off his clothes. "Better?"

Terra grinned at her, and she responded in kind. "It's impossible to feel bad when Sora's around."

"Cake helps." She said, raising the last piece of her slice in a salute before stuffing it in her mouth quickly as Terra reached for it. "Mine!" she said through a mouthful of cake.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Terra told her, grinning as he poked her in the ribs.

"Hey!" she squirmed, swallowing quickly and wincing.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, an evil glint in his eyes. Aqua had time to feel worried just before he leant over and started tickling her.

"No! Stop-!" she shrieked, trying to beat him with her fists but unable to aim properly. "Terra-!"

"You should know better than talking with your mouth full!" he told her, grinning with malicious glee as he pinned her to the sofa, running his fingers over her sensitive skin. "Shame you on!"

Aqua had always been quite ticklish, and the last time Terra had tried this tactic they had both ended up with bruised ribs and black eyes – and they had been detailed to mop all the floors as punishment for getting so out of hand. Sadly, no Master was present to save Aqua this time around. She kicked and bucked and tried to hit him, all to no avail; she was trapped until he tired, got bored, or felt merciful. She quickly grew breathless with laughter, her sides splitting and her eyes watering, and her desire for revenge growing.

Suddenly, Terra wasn't there anymore, and Aqua forced herself to uncurl from the protective ball she had made of herself to take a look. He was sprawled on the floor, and Leo was clambering over the back of the sofa, hissing softly, teeth bared. He turned from Terra's groaning form to sniff and prod Aqua and check she was still alive. She raised a hand and stroked his feathered face, smiling weakly.

"My hero…"

Leo croaked her name, licking her cheek happily, then his gaze turned stony as Terra slowly got to his feet. Looking at him from the corner of his eyes, the dragon curled his lip up theatrically and rumbled deep in his chest.

"Aw, you haven't turned on me too, have you Leo?"

In answer, Leo snapped his jaws in Terra's face.

"Great! Just great…"

Aqua laughed weakly, still aching, and settled back down against the sofa. Leo had punished him…for now. She'd think of something else later.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, as the saying went, and Aqua took her sweet time in dishing it out that day. The rest of the day was spent being lazy, and finally Riku dragged a sleepy Sora off to the gummi ship to go home, Kairi trailing behind, giggling to herself. Despite his most valiant efforts, the boy had succumbed to the human need for rest, and kept drifting in and out of consciousness as he continued to resist it feebly. Mel spent most of the afternoon and evening lavishing Leo with much care and affection to thank him for saving their hides, and also because she had missed him and he had been so upset at her leaving. She got out the special water proofing oil and rubbed it into his lengthening plumage, and he hummed with pure happiness at the attention he received. When she was done he plonked her down between his front legs and started preening her hair, still damp from being washed, giving back what she had given him. As Aqua went ahead with her plans, she caught sight of Terra and Ven piled onto the sofa, fast asleep – it almost, _almost_ made her reconsider. Almost, but not quite enough…

Terra was lying on his back, head once again supported by the armrest; his left leg was stretched out across the sofa and propped up over the armrest at the other end, while his right leg dangled over the edge of the sofa. Ven's legs were draped over the back of the sofa, his shoulders and most of his back on the cushions, and his arms dangling over the edge. Terra's leg was trapped between the sofa and Ven, and they had been passing a book between them to revise from, and had fallen asleep where they lay. They looked years younger, the pair of them splayed out like that – so very endearing…

And yet not enough to stop Aqua exacting her revenge.

The next morning when she went along the corridor banging on doors and yelling for everyone to get up, she met Terra on his way back of the bathroom, and he threw his damp towel at her, scowling deeply.

"Very _funny_!" he snapped, stalking back to his room and slamming the door shut with a bang.

"What'd you _do_?" Ven demanded, wide eyed as Terra stormed past.

"I have no idea what you mean," she smiled serenely as Terra stomped past again, carrying his pillowcase that was filled with custard. She caught Ven's eye, and they both staggered away from him, trying not to laugh.

"Brilliant!" Ven said, hugging her around the middle through force of habit, though he had to bend down to reach her now. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Cause you're not evil like me," she smiled wickedly, ruffling up his hair. "Ready to learn today!" she asked, spreading her arms wide.

Ven jumped up with a grin on his face and threw his own arms into the air. "No way!"

"Well tough!" she said, maintaining the happy, go lucky tone.

"I hate this!" Ven went on in the same voice as her.

"You want to be a Master?"

He lowered his arms and gave her a look that could have melted the most icy of hearts in a matter of seconds, his bottom lip trembling pitifully. "Why would you say something like that? Don't you believe in me?"

Aqua had had years to build up immunity to this, and only dire certainty of injury or death had ever kept her from giving in on the rare occasions he pulled this stunt (at first by accident, and then deliberately when he realised the results). It broke her heart to see the desolation in his eyes, even if she knew it was an act, and that she had to tilt her head back to look up at the man he now was, rather than down on the boy he had been.

"Oh!" she said, his gaze plucking her heartstrings like a harp. "Ven!" she crushed him to her chest. "Why…why do you have to look at me like that?"

"You don't believe I can do it! That's why you're mean to me and make me work really hard and stuff!" he pretended to bawl.

"Oh you idiot!" she tried to press him into her chest and her heart. "Of course I believe in you! That's why I'm pushing you so you'll be the very best you can! Stop looking at me like that!" she commanded, pinching his cheek.

"Ouch!"

Aqua held him at arms length, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "How do you always manage to win me over like that?"

Ven dropped his pathetic air and flashed her a cheeky grin. "I practise!"

Aqua smiled sweetly and put both her hands on his forehead before pushing him away forcefully. "Practise your footwork!"

"You're not my Master!" he whinged all the way down to the kitchen. "You're my sister. I don't have to do what you tell me!"

"You do if you want to live to see the next moon rise," she shot back.

"Terra!" Ven wailed as he walked into the room, and flung his arms around his best friend. "Aqua's being mean to me!" he drew out the last syllable for effect.

"There, there," Terra wrapped his arms around Ven and held him close, rocking from side to side and shooting Aqua a malevolent glare. "Join the club. It's all right now Ven, it's gonna be okay…"

Mel walked in at that moment, and saw them clinging to each other for mutual support. "What did you do?" she asked Aqua as she sat down at the table.

Aqua shook her head and failed to hide her smile. "Don't ask…"

"Mel, don't talk to her." Terra said loudly, ignoring Aqua completely.

"She's _mean_!" Ven stuck his tongue out at her.

Mel cocked her head to one side, eyes wide and innocent. "Aqua's never given me any cause to dislike her."

Aqua flung her arms around the girl. "I love you so much…"

"I think I just made enemies for the day." Mel said evenly, looking at the boys and their theatrical scowls. "Tea, anyone?"

XOXOX

"Mel!" Kyo shrieked, knocking her over in his haste to greet her. Leo got his teeth around her shoulder guard and lifted her back to her feet, bringing Kyo with her. "I missed you so much!" he gushed, bouncing with excitement and beaming at her.

Mel just stared at him, mouth agape. "Did you _grow_ again?" she asked weakly.

True, Kyo looked a bit taller than Ven remembered, and his clothes had changed a lot in the few weeks since they had left him in Ansem's care. He now wore similar close fitting grey trousers to Mel's, with a fitted deep green button down shirt, the top buttons undone so his salmon pendant was visible. Over this he wore a long sort of cardigan that reached down to his knees in artful folds, made from a very fine wool, black with pale beige patterns of geometric design, that reminded Ven of some of the art works he had seen among the Powhatans. All large squares and rectangles with interlocking triangles, lines and sweeping circles that made a sort of layered set of steps going up the arms and down along the torso in neat lines like a field of chevrons. On his shoulder Kyo carried a snazzy looking black satchel with bright silver buckles – most probably brand new at this point, yet to suffer from any loving abuse – with a purple neck scarf knotted around one of the straps. He had something in his hand, which became more visible when he stepped back from his sister. It looked like a computer gadget of some sort.

"Dunno," Kyo shrugged in response to the question. "You don't stop growing properly till you're about twenty five anyway. Hey guys!" he waved at them manically even though they were only a few paces away.

"Hi!" Ven grinned; putting a hand on his hair to muss it up the way people used to and still did to him. "What're you doing way out here?"

They were in a small square on the outskirts of town, far from the castle and the buildings usually dominated by the Committee. It seemed an odd place for Kyo to be, especially by himself.

"What about you?" Kyo countered, clueless.

"Kyo," Mel said, frowning slightly and rubbing his arm soothingly. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

"I'm not!" he said, waving the thing in his hand, that looked like a thin black tray about twice the size of his outstretched hand. "Yuffie had to chase a heartless off and told me to wait here for her."

"What are doing?" Terra asked, looking at the thing in his hand.

"Recon," Kyo held the thing up, and it appeared to be some sort of hand held, flat computer. "I go round monitoring heartless activity with the Committee when they're on patrol, and then I give it to Master Ansem so they can figure out the best strategy for dealing with them. There's loads more today than there was last week!"

"How long ago did Yuffie leave you?" Mel asked, unexpectedly shrewd and calculating for her usual self.

"About three seconds before you pitched up." He said, not a drop of guile in his expression. "How long you staying for?"

"Just the day."

"Aww," Kyo's face fell, but perked up when Leo shuffled over and licked his cheek. "Hi!"

"Hey, guys!" Yuffie called, swaggering over and looking pleased with herself. "Sora and the gang are in the main square if you wanna say hi! Kyo, let's get going,"

Kyo looked put out, but brightened when Mel stroked his hair. "I'll see you later?" he asked eagerly.

"Of course!" Mel said, and they parted ways. "How can he have _grown_?" she asked aloud as they rounded a corner. "It's not possible!"

"Evidently it is," Terra snickered.

Mel stared off into the distance, and eventually responded when Ven poked her in the ribs. "I'll always be the shortest, won't I?" she asked dully, making them all laugh.

"You're more huggable that way," Terra said teasingly.

"I'm huggable too!" Ven said defiantly, flinging his arms around Aqua. "See? And I'm not tiny!"

"Ven, let go." Aqua said in a bored tone before pushing him away.

Sora and Riku were far more accommodating; when they met up he went off with the two teens to practise sparring while Aqua dealt with the business she had intended to that day. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't really care either – he needed to practise, and since he didn't get to fight Sora and Riku every day he took advantage of their different style and techniques, and he sharpened Sora's with his reverse grip since Ven was the only person he knew who fought that way. After a while Terra wondered over and joined in while Mel and Kairi sat talking conspiratorially to each other on a low wall. Aqua was nowhere to be seen until approaching lunchtime when she arrived with Ansem, and Kyo returned at the same time with Yuffie.

"Ah! There you are," Ansem gave them a long suffering smile, and Ven guessed this was becoming a common occurrence – it was the same look Master Eraqus made when he caught Aqua and Terra bickering with each other. "I was beginning to think I had cause for concern."

"Not here you don't!" Yuffie crowed before retiring inside out of the deceptively warm sunlight.

It was one of those cold days that you could get away with short sleeves if you sat in a patch of sun and didn't move. For this reason, they had taken their sparring into the shaded part of a square out of the sunlight while the girls lounged inactive in the sunshine.

"Sorry, but she kept running off." Kyo said, handing the weird flat computer to Ansem. "But we got the data recorded!" he seemed pleased with himself.

"Guys!" Aqua called, waving them all over. "Let's go inside,"

"But we're not finished!" Sora whined, even though everyone complied with Aqua's wishes. "We were just getting warmed up! _Guys_!"

"I'm thirsty," Riku said bluntly.

"But-!" Sora pouted, trembling lip and all – and no one paid him any attention, so he stomped off after them in a huff, making Kairi laugh. "I was having fun…" he insisted.

The Committee's HQ had once been in Merlin's house, and it had now moved to a vacated building a couple of streets away, where they were now. Upstairs was a collection of studies, a couple of offices, and several bedrooms; downstairs was a nice big kitchen and a sort of homemade bar area with beer pumps and everything. Today, they just had fizzy drinks circulating since most people were 'on duty' and Leon was pretty strict about mixing alcohol and work. As Ven entered the main room on the ground floor, a huge open plan space with chairs and tables of varying style and wood, and a nice big squashy sofa by the lit fireplace, Kyo was trying to engage people in an argument.

Mel wasn't paying much attention at first – she was still in cahoots with Kairi over something, and when Terra butted in to ask Kairi said loudly, "My ovaries hurt," which instantly deterred any further questioning from anyone about their conversation.

"Mel!" Kyo called over the general noise in the room, trying to get her attention. "No one's listening to me!"

"Shouting isn't the best way to get favourable attention." She said gently as he scuttled over, dodging with some skill around Leo as he squeezed inside, only just fitting. "What is it?"

"I had an argument." He said, looking at the floor and scowling. "I know I'm right!"

"About what?" Ven asked, jumping onto the sofa beside Riku and relaxing. Aqua wasn't going to scream at him about footwork for the next few hours – he could afford some rest.

"But I'm _right_!" he said loudly, waving his arms at Mel. "Joey's wrong!"

"I don't know who Joey is or what the argument is about, and until I do I'm not much help to you." Mel said fairly. She was good at handling Kyo, and Ven was certain most of the time the boy was playing up for her to get the attention; like how he used to, and even now sometimes still did, for Aqua. Mel humoured him, though Ven guessed that Kyo wouldn't get his way with her so easily.

"So," Ansem said, pulling up a chair from a nearby table as there was no longer any room on the sofa, and joined the conversation. "What did Joey say this time?"

"It's not called _key_!" Kyo insisted, adamant on the issue. "That's not how you pronounce it!"

"What?" Sora asked, stuffing a cake into his mouth and chewing like a squirrel, making Riku and Kairi laugh.

"It's called _kye_!" Kyo said angrily.

Ven's head shot up and he eyed Kyo closely. He didn't like the trail of thoughts this conversation induced, and he was certain Mel had picked up on it instantly because she kept a very even expression as she spoke to Kyo.

"What is, exactly Kyo? Because it's like either and _either_. People just pronounce things different depending on their accent."

"It's not called _key_ squared it's called _kye_ squared! Joey's _wrong_!"

"Kyo," Mel said, standing up and walking over to him, hands held up placatingly. "It's just a word, does it really matter?"

"Yes! Because it's not called _key_ squared!"

"What is…thing squared?" Sora asked, oblivious.

Ven had to laugh at his expression, and the dark cloud that had drifted into his thoughts was dispelled.

"It's a test of difference you use when you look at data. Like…if there's significance to it. So you subtract the expected values from the observed values, square it, and then you divide that figure by the expected value. Then you look at the degree of freedom to determine your critical value, and depending on what value you got in the equation you either accept or reject the null hypothesis. And that way you can state whether there's any significance in the results you got." His speech was met with blank stares all around – all except Ansem the Wise.

"Huh?" Sora asked, none of it having sunk in.

"But that's really simple! I _hate_ using Spearman's Rho." Kyo scowled. "You're dumber than Tom! He never got it either,"

Mel lightly cuffed him on his shoulder and said somewhat sternly, "And I could say you're dumb for not being able to fight with a sword. It doesn't matter that you can't do a certain thing and others can, because some things you can do that they can't. Just because the rest of us don't have a brain the size of a planet,"

Kyo smiled sheepishly at her. "But it's really simple! You're measuring the difference between what you expect to see given random probability of events, and what you actually see. So you can say whether something was a fluke or if there was something influencing the results. And you use maths to prove it!" Mel looked how Ven felt – clueless. "Oh for God's sake!" Kyo whined, hanging his head in defeat. Then it snapped back up again and he said, "But it's not called _key_!"

By this point Terra and Aqua had come over to join in the conversation, and Ven picked up on Terra's tension as he heard Kyo' argument. He caught his friend's eye, and Ven shrugged dramatically. The kid didn't mean any harm, he probably didn't know, but Ven didn't feel too upset about it. He was really just arguing the semantics of it from the scientific point of view. Terra perched on the armrest of the sofa, and put an arm around Aqua's waist casually, trying to hide his frown and not quite managing to.

"Oh, wait!" Sora cottoned on, and Kyo looked to him, eyes wide and shining. "Isn't _key_ that thing that…?" he winced as Riku punched him, and said, "Ugh…never mind…"

"Don't any of you get it?" Kyo asked imploringly. "It's such a simple sum!"

"It's all Greek to me." Mel said dully.

"But that's it!" Kyo shook her. "It's the Greek letter that looks like a curly 'X'. It's called _kye_,"

"Isn't the word spelt different?" Kairi said suddenly, and everyone looked at her. "I saw something in a text book once…"

"C-H-I. It's spelt 'chee' but pronounced _kye_." He said with finality.

"Oh!" Sora had an epiphany, and Ven couldn't stop himself from laughing. "That thing!" he pointed at Ven. "Now I get it!"

"Ven doesn't get it!" Kyo said, clearly wounded that no one else did. "Why are you pointing at him?"

"That thing about the keyblade," Sora said happily, having made the connection.

"That has nothing to do with it!" Kyo insisted. "You're making stuff up!"

"Nah, he's right, Kyo." Ven said, ignoring Terra's surprised look. He scowled at him – did he really think he that hung up over it still? "Sora's talking about the χ-blade. It's an 'X'," he drew one in the air with his finger, curly like Kyo had mentioned. "And it's pronounced _key_, too. It's made when two warriors, one of light and one of darkness, clash with each other." He felt quite calm explaining it to Kyo, despite the audience. He knew Terra and Aqua were shooting him concerned looks, but he felt unfazed. "I guess it's not the same as your equation."

"Doesn't sound like it." Kyo looked puzzled.

"Remember that story Grandpa told us? About the first keyblade war? And why it was so important for me to handle the keyblade properly?" Mel said, poking him in the ribs gently. "You must have heard that story a dozen times, it was one of his favourites."

"I'm surprised, Kyo." Ansem said, speaking for the first time since joining the conversation. "You usually have an excellent memory."

Kyo grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through his thick, copper coloured hair. "I didn't pay much attention to those stories…if I don't pay attention, I don't remember…"

"So really," Mel said calmly, steering the conversation out of dangerous waters. "It's just down to semantics."

"No," Kyo said stubbornly, jaw set. "It's _context_." He paused for a moment before exploding at her, "Joey's wrong! When you do a test of difference on your data results, you use _kye_ squared!"

Mel put a hand to her forehead despairingly, though her expression was calm and serene. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me," he said, flinging his arms around her neck. "Feed me. _Never_ leave me." He looked down at her, and narrowed his eyes. "This is _weird_."

"Hmm?"

"I spent my whole life looking up at you. And now I have to look _down_ at you. It doesn't feel right!"

Mel raised her eyes to the heavens before closing them, looking down and shaking her head before opening them again. "You always were scatter brain."

"It's cause I'm _right_ and Joey isn't." He said stubbornly, the conversation swinging back again. "I'm the scientist, I work in a real lab with Bunsen burners and _everything_!"

As the day wore on Kyo started giving science lessons and ended up on the floor before the fire with Sora, Riku and Aqua giving them a lecture on molecular chemistry that Ven was certain only Riku was actually listening to. In the mean time, Terra and Ven started talking about battle tactics with Yuffie, but Ven kept tuning out to listen to Mel and Ansem.

"Has he been all right?" she asked anxiously.

Ansem chuckled. "He's almost as bad as Sora. He never seems to run out of energy; I can hardly keep up with the boy. But he's a diligent worker, very organised with his notes, and he appears to have a natural affinity with numbers."

"He always did like maths and physics." She smiled wearily, looking over at him trying to explain something to Sora, who stared at him blankly in response. "But he hasn't been any trouble?"

"We may need to curb his enthusiasm for unauthorised experiments. He almost caused an explosion in the lab a few days ago,"

Mel hung her head and hid behind her hand, but Ven laughed and asked. "What'd he do?"

"A simple error any student could have made with the ingredients. He has no care for research into matters of the heart and soul, but he has a passion for understanding the nature of matter, and I have yet to contain his enthusiasm for testing his theories."

"As long as he's not getting himself in deep and spiritual trouble." Mel looked concerned. "He's bright, but most people are before they go completely insane."

Ven snorted with laughter. "What?" he demanded when she turned her gaze on him.

"It's no laughing matter." She said quietly, a sharpness in her tone that was uncharacteristic.

"Relax!" Ven said bracingly. He knew Kyo was more interested in gravity and things like that. "He's way too much like you to go and do something stupid and put the universe in jeopardy. What was it you were _constantly_ telling us?" he said teasingly as she kept her expression neutral. "Negativity breeds and attracts negativity! You keep worrying about it and thinking it'll happen it just might! Right?" he gave her his best entreating smile, and she eased up and laughed. "See? He's kinda like Sora – he'll never go over to," he put on a dramatic voice, "_the dark side_!"

Kyo looked up as he heard Ven, and put on his own deep, theatrical voice with much hissing, as if speaking through a gas mask. "I find your lack of faith disturbing!"

Mel giggled. "Weren't you giving a lecture just now?" she asked.

"Having a break," he said promptly. "Sora doesn't get any of it!"

"I don't like science!" Sora cried and pretended to sob. "I don't like school! _I don't like doing math!_"

"Hey Mel," Terra said suddenly, and she blinked in surprise at the shift in conversation. "What was that thing you said about chakras again?"

"I probably said many things. Which one?"

"About how they spin?"

"Well…" she closed her eyes, head cocked to one side, and held her hand out in front of her chest. "They run up your body from the base of your spine to the crown of your head, and on this axis," she motioned away from her torso in a horizontal line, "they're like vortexes. At the front like this if they are balanced properly they spin clockwise, and the corresponding vortex of energy that comes out of your back in the same way goes counter-clockwise when balanced."

"Huh?" Sora looked up at her and blinked. "Why's it go the other direction on your back?"

"Because the two funnels of energy meet in the middle, along your spine. And they spin on each other, so they have to go in opposite directions. If one spins in the other direction it causes an imbalance, and the other will switch over to compensate, and when the energy spins in the wrong direction your energy meridians start going out too, and then all the organ systems start suffering, and then your physical and mental health takes a hit because everything's upset,"

"So…" Sora looked at his hands, frowning with concentration. "These energy vortexes…"

"The Chakras."

"Yeah, to stay balanced they have to spin in opposite directions, on the same point but just in different directions?"

"That's right," she said encouragingly.

"I get!" Sora bounced to his feet, startling Riku so he fell over.

Kyo stared at Mel with his mouth hanging open. "D'ya know how long it took me to explain that about particles, and he _still_ didn't understand?"

Mel shrugged. "I'm not a scientist." She said helplessly.

"So then," Ansem asked, as Sora celebrated his understanding with more lemonade. "Melody, what would you call yourself?"

Mel took a while in responding. "An artist, I guess. And a Healer."

"I find your branch of magic fascinating. It ties in with my research on the heart, and small pieces like the one Sora discovered also support scientific principles."

"I know nothing," Mel said, hands up in surrender as Ven laughed. "I like ecology, that's the only bit of biology I loved. Mammalian Biology was interesting too, but that's it for me. I can't do physics."

"Don't you know how gravity works?" Ven snickered. "What happens next time you trip?"

Mel gave him a soft smile and said without any irony in her tone or expression, "I don't trip, I just periodically test to see if gravity's still working. And I'm pleased to say I have never found it broken."

Ven laughed, unable to control himself, and Terra joined in, leaving Yuffie to storm off in a huff when they didn't respond to her comments.

"You'd better be careful!" Lea announced, sweeping into their midst dramatically and leaning over the back of the sofa to pinch Mel's cheek. "A guy could fall head over heels for a gal like you, what with that humour of yours and all! And then we'd have Terra and Ven chasing after them to bring her home again!"

"And us!" Sora shouted loudly, motioning to himself, Riku and Kyo.

"No one's making off with my sister!" Kyo said indignantly. "I just found her again!"

Lea cackled at the stir he had caused and went to grab a drink before they all disappeared. "Hey!"

"No beer!" Yuffie shouted at him.

"I'm not on duty, here!"

"I said _no beer_!"

Ven put an arm around Mel and pulled her in close against his side, tucking her up against him. "We'll make sure that doesn't happen."

"You'll be trapped with us forever," Terra said with a sly smile.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Mel said with a smile of her own. "I like hanging out with you."

"Try doing it for several years straight." Aqua said listlessly. "It's enough to drive anyone mad…"

"Gosh Aqua," Sora said, blinking. "You don't seem that crazy."

"Not in public…" Ven said in an undertone, making everyone giggle.

Terra imitated a mad evil scientist laugh, and everyone succumbed to their mirth while Aqua gave him a withering look.

"What's with the feather rug?" someone asked, walking across the room from the front door, eyeing up Leo in the corner where he was happily asleep. Ven couldn't quite see from the sofa, but Lea came over with the newcomer to introduce them, and it turned out to be a slender woman with dark hair, highlighted at the front with deep caramel streaks. She wore a black shirt and shorts, under a long deep blue sleeveless rib knitted top.

"Everyone, I don't think you've met Rinoa yet," Lea said, swigging from a bottle of forbidden booze. Kyo grinned and waved at her, and she grinned and waved back. "Rinoa, this is Sora, Riku, Aqua," he nodded at them each in turn. "Kairi, Terra, Ventus, and Mel. And the lump over there's Leo,"

"Hi guys," Rinoa said brightly. She turned to look at the bottle in Lea's hand and said, "Oh, hey! Can you get me a bottle of that?"

"Of _what_?" Yuffie demanded, stalking over. "Leon said no alcohol!"

"I'm off duty!" Lea spat back. "Let go of me!"

Leo twitched in his sleep but didn't get up as the two of them fought. Rinoa left to help out in the kitchen, and after a while came back to say, "You guys staying to eat?"

Aqua checked the time and started when she saw how late it was. "Gosh, we should have gone by now,"

"Well, there's plenty of paella going spare if you change your mind," Rinoa said in a wheedling singsong voice that won them over.

"I'm in!" Sora said, his hand shooting into the air, which seemed to settle the matter for everyone.

The food was absolutely delicious, and they retired outside afterwards to bask in the sun while it lasted. Everyone was in high spirits, and Ven chatted excitedly with the other boys about the up coming exam. Terra and Aqua went for a walk together somewhere, and Ven rolled his eyes dramatically at their backs as they left.

"Why do you act like that?" Kairi demanded, annoyed on her mentor's behalf. "Aren't you happy for them?"

"I am!" Ven protested. He never said he wasn't! "I just don't wanna watch, you know?" he pretended to wretch. "That's just gross."

Sora giggled and Kairi slapped her forehead. "Don't even…" she began, but gave up almost at once.

"It's not just Aqua and Terra, though!" Sora said happily.

"Yeah! But it's nice to see you have more restraint!" Ven said loudly, hoping the two of them were still within earshot. Leo gave a rasping bark that was his version of raucous laughter before he curled up in a patch of sunlight and went straight to sleep. Ven nudged him with his foot, and failed to elicit a response. "Mel, I think Leo's broken."

"He's probably going through another growth spurt," she said, looking over him with concern. "When will it end!"

"I bet he'll be _massive_!" Kyo said, spreading his arms and stance wide to show just how big he reckoned Leo would get. "Aqua and I measured him, he's _literally_ a millimetre off being officially adolescent!"

"By that much?" Mel asked.

"Yeah! Poor Leo, he's doomed to be a child still." Kyo folded his arms and shook his head sadly. "The poor dear…"

Mel raised an eyebrow and flicked his ear. "I'm going to chop you off at the knees if you keep growing."

"Gotta catch me first!" Kyo stuck his tongue out at her and leapt out of the way as she made a lunge for him. He ran away, cackling with glee and hid behind Leon, leaning out from behind his elbow to pull a face at her.

"What will I _do_ with him?" she asked aloud. Leo croaked and raised his head, eyes closed and seeking her hand; she rewarded him with a scratch, and then she and Ven started fussing over him.

"Kyo's happy though, right?"

"I think I gave Ansem more then he bargained for." Mel sighed, rubbing Leo's neck down. "Kyo's always been…" she struggled to find the right word, but Ven supplied it for her.

"Kyo."

She smiled. "Yes, that's a good way to describe him." They were interrupted by a commotion behind them, and turned to see Sora and Riku arguing.

That in itself, wasn't anything unusual. The unusual thing was Kairi trying to deflate the situation. She was kind, funny, quick-witted – often just as bad as the boys for stirring things up, but she was desperately trying to placate the pair of them and the argument. Riku eventually puffed his chest out and stalked off while Sora pulled faces at him from behind his back, wincing when Kairi tugged on his hair.

"Ouch!"

"Sora! Why?" she said imploringly, plucking at his sleeve. "You know he'll get mad at you!"

"I didn't bring it up!" Sora said defensively, and turned to Ven as he and Mel joined the discussion. "It was Ven who brought it up in the first place!"

"Brought what up?" he asked.

"About couples and stuff!" he said fervently. "I was _just_ saying, that-"

"Sora!" Kairi said pleadingly. "You know he's upset,"

"Riku's not upset, he's just annoyed with Keith's gang, that's all. I kinda am too."

"What's up?" Ven asked, hands behind his head and adopting a comfortable stance. Leo crawled over to their slightly shaded area and started begging for attention, which Mel gave him.

"Oh, just some guy at home who's after this girl that Riku really likes." Sora said offhand.

Kairi rammed both hands into her face and Mel coughed quietly. Apparently, diplomacy was something that was written into the genetic code of every woman.

"Oh?" Ven smiled slyly and shot Riku a sideways glance. "Who's the lucky girl?"

Kairi scowled at him and started tugging on Sora's arm. "No! I'm not gonna be responsible if Riku tries to kill you again!"

"Relax!" Sora shrugged her off. "He's not even listening. Besides!" he mimicked Ven's pose. "She'd be really lucky to have him! And I think she likes him too! _I_ like her, as a friend, mind you."

Kairi looked despairingly at Mel, but the older woman couldn't offer much support. Sora suddenly realised he was standing exactly like Ven, and they both laughed.

"So _who_ exactly are you talking about?" Ven asked. Despite the hilarity at Riku's expense, he was genuinely curious.

"She's this girl at school. Riku _would_ be in her class, but we're being tutored out of school to stop the questions about where we keep going." He frowned. "It's kinda annoying, really…"

Ven smiled with sympathy. He wondered what the girl would make of all the adventures Riku had – it was lucky for Sora and Kairi that they were in the same boat, as well as Terra and Aqua; they each understood the stresses it put them under. He couldn't imagine trying to have a meaningful relationship with someone whilst trying from them the fact that he was a warrior of the keyblade.

Kairi sighed and rubbed her temples as Mel put hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "I actually really like her." She said mournfully. "It's just that there's this _douche bag _that's trying to get her to go out with him, and Riku's not always around because he goes off with us a lot, so she doesn't see him as often. I don't _think_ she likes Keith…"

"If it's meant to be," Mel began, but stopped when Sora started giggling. "Is it really that funny, Sora?"

"Not really!" he beamed at them. "But Riku's reaction is,"

"Sora!" Kairi said through her teeth.

"In fact, I think the whole world should know about it!" Sora said, striking a pose before jumping onto the low wall of the square, "Riku and Leah, sittin' in a tree!"

Kairi buried her face in Mel's dark blonde hair and shuddered with despair.

"K-I-S-S-I-N- _ARGH_!"

XOXOX

It was nice, just walking, just talking, just together. Aqua leaned against Terra's side, enjoying the moment while her mind wondered through preparations for the exam. Ven had been trying to get her to drop something, but he'd failed; Terra had teased her about it, but he hadn't asked any questions about it, whether direct or subtle.

The peace was shattered by a scream and footsteps pelting down the street behind them. They both turned to see what it was, and Sora tore between them so fast they had to step aside to get out of the way, staring at each other in amazement as he flew by screaming, "RIKU'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

"What on earth-?" Aqua began, taking a step back towards Terra on the other side of the street.

Riku came flying out of nowhere, and she had to flatten herself against the wall to get out of his way. He had his keyblade in hand, his face was scarlet, and he had a dangerous gleam in his eye as he snarled.

"Riku?" Aqua shouted after him, shocked and concerned, and staggered as someone ran into her from behind. "Ven! What's going on?"

"Can't stop!" Ven said pleadingly, herring after the others, followed swiftly by Lea and Kairi who were yelling at Riku to stop.

Leo flew overhead, following the chase from above, and as she and Terra started after them, she noticed Mel trailing quite far behind, panting.

"Can't…run as…fast…" she panted when she caught up with them.

Aqua ploughed into the crowd of people at the end of the street in the nearest square, and stopped when she saw the scene unfolding. It would appear that Sora deserved some sort of punishment, but getting garrotted by Riku with a keyblade didn't seem quite justifiable. Lea was floating around trying to persuade him to let Sora go, and every time he approached Riku to try and physically subdue him his grip tightened and Sora choked.

"What the hell is this?" Terra demanded as Ven flapped his arms uselessly.

"Riku!" Aqua said loudly. "The keyblade is an instrument of peace, not a murder weapon. Let him go before he suffocates!"

Grudgingly, Riku let go as Aqua advanced on him, and Sora fell to his knees, panting heavily. Kairi knelt beside him, giving Riku a filthy look, before she cuffed Sora for his troubles. "You idiot!" he winced and rubbed his neck. "You brought it on yourself!"

"Ouch…"

"_What_," Aqua demanded, drawing herself up to her full height and authority. "Were you two doing?"

To her surprise, Riku's face went bright red and he turned his back on her, shoulders hunched. He was always so direct with her, it was a bit out of character, but Lea laughed it off. "Seems like Romeo here took offence to Sora's serenading." He said with a smirk.

"I did deserve that…" Sora said in a subdued tone. He looked up, wide-eyed. "But I think she _does_ like you! She'd have to be insane to like _Keith_ more than _you_!"

Riku rounded on him, just about containing his anger and hissed through his teeth, "Just – stop – _talking_!"

"Well now!" Ven said loudly, clapping his hands together and acting surprisingly maturely. "Why don't we all just go home and go to bed early? We'll all forget about this in the morning and we can go back to worrying about the more important things in life and not have to worry about getting blood stains out of our clothes."

"Ever tried getting it out of a silk shirt?" Lea said, holding the hem of his over shirt out at length and examining it. "_Nightmare_."

"C'mon!" Ven started chivvying everyone along and marshalling them into order. "Sora, keep your mouth shut – Riku, curb the murderous impulses – Lea, just go away… Kairi, just stay as you are,"

"Wow!" Terra pretended to stand back in amazement and fall over with surprise. "When did you get so grown up and mature?"

"We can't all be responsible adults, Terra!" he said loudly, pushing him out of the way. It again struck Aqua just how tall he was – just that little bit shorter than Terra now. "Move along, there's nothing to see here!"

"Ven," Aqua poked him between the eyes as he marched past. "Don't get too big for your boots now."

He flashed her favourite cheeky grin at her. "Gees, Aqua! I thought you could do with a break from being in charge, so I decided to do it myself!"

After the others had started home – Riku staying a minimum of twenty paces away from Sora – Aqua swooped down on Ven and hugged him tightly so he yelped and struggled.

"Aqua! Lemme go!"

"Oh Ven!" she cooed, partly to wind him up, and partly because she wanted him to know just how much she absolutely adored him. "You're so grown up occasionally!"

He scowled at her. "Waddya mean _occasionally_?"

"You're such a goof ball most of the time, and then suddenly you show me just how much you've grown…" she squeezed him tight while he wriggled around trying to escape, before giving up and letting her hug him. "You don't know how much I love you…"

"Aqua!" he hissed, flushing with embarrassment.

She giggled, stroking his hair, still keeping him pinned to her side. "I'll always treat you like my baby brother," she said, kissing his cheek.

That was the final straw – he pushed her away, breaking her grip on him and stalked off, petulant and childish again. Aqua put her hands over her heart and couldn't stop the warm smile on her face as she watched him go. She knew she had embarrassed him, even if there wasn't a large audience to see it now, but she knew by his actions earlier that he was well and truly ready.

That just left the exam itself, and when he passed, he was free to make his own decisions. It made her feel sad to think he could leave, but she was grateful; in the end, everything she and Terra had ever done for him, and Master Eraqus' training, had all paid off. She couldn't stop the single tear sliding down her cheek, and Terra instantly picked up on it with concern.

"I'm just…so proud of him." She admitted when he demanded to know what was wrong. "And I'm so happy, but…it makes me sad to think, when he's a Master he can leave." She closed her eyes, bowing her head, trying to get a grip, and yelped when something slammed into her. "Ven!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" he insisted, hugging her tightly. "I don't wanna go anywhere! I wanna stay with you guys, even if I'm a Master!"

"You can't possibly want to stay with us _forever_," she said, shocked.

"No, I just don't wanna leave just yet!" he said earnestly. "I'm not ready to be shot of you!" he added with a grin.

"Oh, I think we can change that," Terra said mischievously. He prised Ven off of Aqua and pretended to slam her against a wall, kissing her forcefully and with much theatrics, a hand curling around her thigh for effect. It took her by surprise at first, but she played along and heard Ven's cry of disgust, and felt Terra's smile against her own.

"Right, that's it! I take it back, I'm leaving the first chance I get!" Ven shouted at them."

Terra tore himself away from her long enough to say, "'Kay bye," before pressing his mouth against hers again, breathing heavily.

"Mel! Leo! We are _so_ outta here!" Ven stomped off, leaving them behind.

Aqua couldn't stop herself from laughing, and Terra leant into the crook of her neck, shaking with mirth. When she at last calmed down, she became aware of Terra's gaze, and his hand which was still on her thigh. They were so close, she could feel his warm breath on her face, and see straight through his deep blue eyes – that same intensity she had felt from him before. And then they were kissing again; heated, intense, passionate. She probably should have anticipated it, the depth and breadth of it, but it took her completely by surprise; she couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips, or the soft gasps his actions elicited. It left her breathless, flushed, frazzled that he could so easily draw such a reaction from her, and she didn't want him to stop.

Something smacked against the back of Terra's head hard and he yelped against her mouth with surprise and pain. Leo was standing not far away, his tail held stiffly upwards at an angle as though threatening to hit him again. He grumbled at the back of his throat, watching them reproachfully, before jerking his head towards the side street where Ven and Mel had disappeared. Terra sighed, and sagged against Aqua, clearly as disappointed as she was.

"Better get going, I suppose." She said bleakly, straightening up and smoothing her clothes and hair back into place. Terra didn't look at her; instead he stared morosely at the ground, cheeks flushed. She smiled and took his hand, and he gave her a tried smile in return before letting her lead him back to the others.

"You finished having sex now?" Ven said loudly, not noticing Ansem was stood behind him.

Kyo blinked, and then sauntered over to hug Mel, who was hanging her head in despair. Terra snarled at Ven, but refrained from retaliating with such an audience present. Ven at least had the grace to look ashamed when he realised Kyo was around.

"You'll come back and visit soon, right?" he asked, making his eyes as wide and appealing as possible. "You won't forget me?"

Mel smiled and cupped his face with her hands. "I couldn't possibly forget you and your exploding pancakes!" they both giggled at the shared childhood memory. Then in a low voice that only Aqua caught, she said, "You'll be seeing me sooner than you think."

"Huh?" Kyo frowned. "Say what?"

"Be good," Mel said sternly before enveloping him in a hug.

Kyo grinned and bent down to wrap his arms securely around her waist before he lifted her off the ground. "I promise!" he set her down again and put on a commanding air. "And you be good too!"

"I'll try."

"Hey," Ven said suddenly, in his bright and cheery voice after Kyo and Ansem had waved goodbye and set off for the castle to analyse their data. "If you actually do have Terra's baby, does that mean I get to be an uncle?"

Aqua nearly choked. Her face burned and she was probably redder than Lea's hair. That…that was, just…

"Ven!" Terra yelled, diving at him with righteous anger.

Aqua wanted to hide, or for everyone to just go away. She had…_far_ more pressing things to worry about, than…

But she couldn't deny in the brief split second before the mortification set in, that she had thought of herself holding a baby boy with chocolate coloured hair and deep blue eyes.

Mel dispelled the sudden paralysis of her mind by taking Aqua's hand and leading her towards Leo, who was pacing anxiously and making small grunts of impatience at them.

"Why don't we go home and have some soup while they sort their differences out?" she asked softly, and Aqua hugged her.

"That sounds _wonderful_." Aqua beamed. She was even more delighted when, after suiting up and taking Mel onto the saddle, Leo tugged at Aqua's helmet and nosed her onto his back before she could summon her glider. It was fun riding on Leo, especially through the Lanes Between – he had formed a habit of bucking and fighting off anyone but Mel who tried to take the front seat, so she had to be present if you wanted a ride. "Guys!" Aqua called, without getting a response.

Leo got up on his hind legs, Aqua scrambling to hold on to Mel so she didn't fall off, and roared at the boys to get their attention. Terra looked up dazedly from the headlock he had Ven in, just in time to see Leo take to the air and rocket up into the sky before they left the two of them behind.

XOXOX

In an impossibly short amount of time, the month of preparations came to a close, and the Mark of Mastery was upon them. Ven felt the same sense of anticipation he had the last time they had faced this, when Terra and Aqua were preparing for their exam. Only this time it was him, Terra and Sora. They spent the week leading up to it working like maniacs on everything they could possibly conceive of in anticipation for the test.

That night, he and Terra spent hours practising their magic and sparring together, joined by Sora and Riku later on after they had arrived, the former driven almost to distraction with excitement.

"I'm gonna be a Master just like Riku!" he crowed happily, chasing Terra around the practise area. "Then I won't have to take orders from him anymore!"

"Sorry Sora!" Riku said with a grin. "I'll still out rank you,"

He skidded to a halt, kicking up a spray of mud. "Hey, how come?"

"You're ranked according to who became Master first." Ven explained. "And how many times you sit the test. Which means…" he smiled evilly at his best friend, "I'll out rank _you_ Terra!"

Terra exchanged a look with Sora, and they both jumped into fighting stances, keyblades in hand, and Terra yelled, "Sick'im, Sora!"

"Yargh!" Ven made a run for it, two trigger-happy warriors on his heels. He was saved by Aqua, coming down from the castle to check on them, and putting an end to the chase before it got too out of hand.

"I don't want any broken necks before the exam," she said sternly. "You'd disappoint so many of us if you got hurt now!"

"Aqua, you freak out every time I lift I book cause I might bleed to death over a _paper cut_." Ven snapped. "You think everything I do is gonna get me killed!"

"You're an idiot Ven," she said simply, making the others snigger. "Of course I'm worried about you hurting yourself. _Right_ before the most important Exam of your career."

"Huh? Career? We make money from this?" he looked at his keyblade. "I didn't know that!"

Aqua sighed and gave him a shove. "Everyone, come back inside."

The reason for her wanting them indoors became apparent when they retired to the common room; Mel had devised something like a tea ceremony for them, and gave them each a small crystal as a good luck charm. The talk was light, casual, even though the undercurrent was strong and fervent, and it didn't take long for the subject to turn back to strategies and manoeuvres, with everyone throwing in suggestions from time to time, sometimes all at once. Finally at just gone a reasonable hour Aqua ordered everyone to bed, even those who weren't sitting the exam. They all traipsed upstairs, and Ven carefully found a pocket in which to stow his good luck charm. He would have liked to add it to his pouch, but he was paranoid about it getting destroyed during the exam, so this would have to do instead.

"You'll be up bright and early to watch us, right?" Ven asked Kairi and Mel as they parted ways in the corridor of the dorms.

"Sure thing," Kairi yawned widely and shuffled after Sora and Riku. "Good luck tomorrow!" she said, flinging her arms around Sora. She exchanged grins with Riku before letting him go.

"Thanks Kairi! I'll do my best," Sora promised sincerely, his grin wider than anyone else's.

"I'll be there," Mel said, squeezing Ven's hand. "I promise."

"Nighty night kiddos!" Lea drawled, sauntering past and patting heads condescendingly as he went.

"Night Lea!" Sora said, practically bouncing along the hallway.

"How does he do it?" Ven demanded, watching him go. "How can he be so full of energy?"

"Because he's Sora?" Mel asked with a shrug.

Sora chatted excitedly while they got ready for bed, and even after the lights had been put out until Riku said pleasantly, "Wanna let me _help_ you go to sleep Sora?"

"Huh? How?"

"With my keyblade."

There was a long pause. Then, "Gees Riku! If you wanted me to shut up you should've just _say_,"

"Oh _shut up_." Ven grumbled, trying to get comfortable and go to sleep despite the excitement of the coming morning.

When he opened his eyes again it was to the sound of fists hammering on the door, light streaming through the windows. Riku was supposed to be helping conduct the exam, and after preparing in a rush he left while Sora and Ven ran around trying to marshal themselves into order. Sora was happy and more hyper than normal, and Ven was starting to get agitated; he double and triple, and even quadruple checked everything during and after breakfast, and still had the nagging sensation that he had missed something, though he managed to convince himself he hadn't. Terra was almost as bad as Ven – he kept running around and snapping at everyone – which was admittedly not that many people. Aqua came to check on them, and disappeared somewhere almost instantly, telling them to congregate in the great hall when they were done with breakfast.

Ven and Terra ran through techniques and katas with each other while Sora ran around and did a few warm ups before they fell into a line with the arrival of Master Yen Sid. He bowed his head in greeting and said, "Good luck, Terra, Sora, Ventus." Before he took his seat in the middle of the three throne like seats.

Next to arrive was Ansem the Wise with Kyo in tow. He smiled at them and said, "Good luck to you, gentlemen." Kyo mouthed it too, and gave them the thumbs up before he followed his master to the seat at the left of the dais, and perched on the arm while beaming happily at them.

Ven frowned and looked around the hall; there was no one else there. Not even Leo sticking his nose where it didn't belong…

"Where _are_ they?" he asked in a low voice, hurt that they hadn't come to see them.

"Dunno," Sora looked put out too. "I wonder where Kairi is?"

Terra exhaled in a controlled manner, his way of coping with stress. He was as keyed up with excitement as Sora, even if he wasn't going to show it. The next round of footsteps turned out to be King Mickey, flanked by Donald and Goofy – still no sign of the other keyblade bearers anywhere.

"Gosh guys, good luck today!" Mickey told them with a smile. "I know you'll all do great!"

"Thanks!" Sora said, beaming and forgetting his melancholy.

"Good luck now!" Goofy said happily. "And be careful, y'hear?"

Donald, in an uncharacteristic display of affection, gave Sora a bear hug before telling him sternly, "And don't you fall asleep this time!"

Sora laughed freely and said, "I'll try not to, for you Donald!" They took their places on the dais, the King on the seat and his two advisors standing by on either side, and waited expectantly. When Riku finally entered the hall, carrying a small gong Sora said, "Hey Riku, you seen Kairi this morning?"

Riku, who had been so focused on his task of carrying the gong, jumped at the question. "Huh? Oh, she's around."

"What?" Sora looked forlorn. "She didn't even say good morning!"

"That's the least of our worries," Ven said, his heart sinking. Mel had promised to be here…where _was_ she?

Riku set the gong on the dais off to one side before turning to face them; hands behind his back and feet shoulder width apart, adopting a more austere and aloof manner until he caught Sora's eye, and they grinned at each other.

Finally, the last to appear was Aqua, walking somewhat stiffly with her shoulders set dead straight and her pace completely measured. She was almost as anxious as they were – Ven knew every nuance of expression and nervous tick by heart, and so it was hard to hide your feelings from people who knew you so well. He wondered vaguely what she saw in him today, probably nervous and boundless excitement – he just wanted to get started to have it over with all the sooner. Aqua took her place beside Riku, who gave her a curt nod before he turned back to the three of them lined up, face unreadable. She turned as well, her face just as blank of emotion for about five seconds before Ven caught her gaze, and she smiled at him to which he grinned in response. He chanced a quick glance behind them to check if the others had arrived late, and faced forward again weighed down with disappointment. They weren't there.

Aqua cleared her throat nervously, avoiding looking at anyone directly in the eye, and began the formalities. "Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery," she said in a clear, carrying voice, and Ven felt chills down his spine as he remembered the last time he had heard those words. Of course, her speech was edited to fit the occasion, and the students present – there was no set ceremony to follow, although it was common for the conductors of the exam to use the same words said at their own Mark of Mastery. "We have three of the Keyblade's chosen standing as candidates, two who have already participated in this exam once before, and have proven themselves worthy of a second endeavour."

Despite the strict procedures adhered to for such occasions, Ven saw from the corner of his eye Sora looking up at Terra and grinning, and the man answering in kind, making Ven grin as well when he turned to him. They had been lined up according to the ranking system that they very rarely deigned to acknowledge in the normal course of things. From their right and working downwards to their left; Terra, Sora, and Ven – because Terra had attempted the exam first, followed by Sora, and though Ven should have been higher than Sora, the younger boy had taken his test first too, which left Ven at the bottom, but by no means less valued.

"This is not a competition for supremacy other each other," Aqua went on, her nerves slowly working themselves out as she recited her long rehearsed speech. "You are tested not by the strength of your will, but by the strength of your heart. Power and skill mean nothing without the strength of heart to bear it with pride and responsibility. However," she raised her chin stubbornly and her eyes flashed. "Given the number of those gathered to bear witness to this occasion, I am sure they did not come to watch those skills you have learnt and honed go to waste." She might as well have screamed "_Footwork_!" at them; it couldn't have been any plainer what she was driving at. "Are you ready, Apprentices of the Keyblade?"

"Yes!" they chorused as was expected of them.

Aqua nodded, relieved her part was nearly over, and looked to Riku, who took a step forward, reserved and sombre until Sora caught his eye. "Outside in the courtyard you will find a path that will lead you to an obstacle course that is the set platform for the exam." He glowered as Sora tried not to laugh at the use of language. Terra gave him a dig in the ribs, and Sora managed to master himself. "When you reach the end you are expected to return here," Riku said, emphasising for Sora's sake. "There is no set time limit, you may approach it together or alone, it is up to you." He pulled seemingly from nowhere a small hammer wrapped in soft fabric around the head, and turned slightly towards the gong. "I now pronounce the Mark of Mastery – begun!" he struck the gong so a long, low, sonorous note filled the great hall.

Ven blinked, not quite expecting the opening ceremonies to end like that. He looked up at Terra, who looked as confused as Ven felt. Sora smiled pleasantly, waiting for the others to make the first move. Then, without any conscious signals or verbal direction, they all spun round and ran for the end of the hall, unable to contain their enthusiasm that had been slowly bubbling up during the speeches any longer.

Sora made to turn down the stairwell, but Ven and Terra vaulted over the banisters to land in the foyer below. "Hey!" he called with surprise, scrambling to follow.

Ven paused as Terra raced to the doors, and grinned at him. "C'mon, Sora!"

"We'll leave you behind if you don't hurry up!" Terra called to him.

Sora landed haphazardly but kept running, and joined them as they fell into formation and pelted down the stairs to the courtyard where they stopped, searching for the start of the path that would lead them to where they needed to go. A long wooden branch, stripped and strimmed of its bark and offshoots, was stuck in the ground, with a long curved hook like protrusion at the thicker end that towered over them all. Attached to the natural hook was a series of long pieces of string at varying lengths so that the objects that hung from them were all clearly visible and didn't over lap each other; a metal plaque the size of Ven's hand in the shape of a wing alongside another carved from wood of a very light colour, a bright red and yellow plastic symbol of the fire spell, a small conch shell that had been drilled in to so it could be threaded on to the string, and a selection of long sleek black feathers tied to a large bead made from a crystal that Ven vaguely recognised. Attached firmly to the top of the long staff was a badge in bronze, the Mark of Mastery, and beneath it Ven could just see the inscriptions of a symbol for Earth, a crown like the one around Sora's neck, and a leaf trailed by lines to represent wind.

Even though they stared at it for a matter of seconds before tearing off in the direction it was pointing, the finer details didn't escape Ven, and he marvelled at Mel's handiwork, wondering when she had had the time to make it without them noticing. As they ran down the steps, intent on their task, Ven grinned to himself – only Mel would have put so much time and thought and sheer effort into something like a marking post for starting line of their exam. He put a hand on the pocket that had the lump of crystal in it, her good luck charm.

He was going to _nail_ this.

XOXOX

Aqua breathed out and allowed herself to relax somewhat as the three of them called and shouted to each other in high spirits before they left through the doors, leaving peace to descend upon them. Riku hefted the small hammer in his hands and spun it around, grinning like Sora.

"I always wanted to do that," he said with delight.

Aqua laughed, then became serious again. "Everyone in place?"

"Yup," Riku set the hammer down and turned to her. "Leo's a bit over excited, but Mel's got him mostly in line."

Aqua nodded – that was as much as she could ask from the young dragon. He was just as giddy as the rest of them. "Are _you_ ready?"

Riku flashed her another grin and raised his hand, summoning his keyblade with a flourish. He was enjoying this a lot more than Aqua had thought he would at first. "Oh yeah,"

"You'd better get going then,"

"See ya!" Riku saluted the crowd behind him before he ran off in the others' wake, following their lead and jumping over the banisters.

Aqua bit her lip and reined in the urge to berate him for it – after all, he was a Master and really he could do what he liked, she couldn't stop him. But that didn't stop her having a heart attack every time one of the youngsters did something reckless like that. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look up at Yen Sid, who was smiling down at her.

"That was well handled, Master Aqua."

She blushed, and murmured her thanks. Would she _ever_ get used to her title?

"And now, it is our job to observe and decide whether they pass or fail."

Aqua nodded, squirming inside. She knew how determined they were, how much effort they had put in, and she thought it would break her heart to deny Terra the chance to become a Master, but…she _had_ to be impartial. Based on their performance today, she would make her decision, and nothing else. She could hope and pray all she liked, but her observations had to be detached and clinical. She would make sure of it.

"Well, if you would all follow me," Aqua motioned, waiting for the other judges to arise. As they rallied themselves, she looked up at the huge stained glass window at the far end of the hall, sending out a silent prayer for her friends.

I know you can do it, Terra…

XOXOX


	14. The Mark of Mastery

**AN: tah-dah! :D I thought it would be more difficult to write but it was actually flowed pretty easily :) I didn't want it to be too deep and intense as far as the writing's concerned, so I hope I got the balance right. If you have the time and any comments/suggestions/criticisms please leave me a review and tell me what you think!**

**I'd also like to say thank you to all those who favourited this story since the last time I checked – thank you very much indeed! Free virtual cookies all round! ;)**

_**The Mark of Mastery**_

"Now what?" Ven asked out loud.

They had followed the trail of markers that had been set out, leading them away from the castle and into the mountains. They had made it to a valley, with sheer walls rising high on either side, and a maze constructed of gummi blocks and ropes, and a lot of tricky looking obstacles. A small part of his mind was still wondering where the others were, but he had to focus his whole attention on the task at hand – he could whine at them about it later. Right now, they had to figure out the best way to get across; they had been told they could go together or separately, but Ven had a feeling they would get separated whether they wanted to or not. The first hurdle was a single cable from the platform they were stood on to the other side, with nothing but a rope net between them and a fast flowing river below. The net was tied to a ledge far below the platform on the other side where the cable ended – it looked a little problematic…

Not one to be fazed so easily, Terra sat down on the edge of the platform and said, "I'll go first," and carefully climbed onto the cable. It was tricky, and in the end he had to accept assistance so he didn't fall before he had a chance to cross. Taking Ven's arm, he grabbed the cable one handed and locked his legs around it before letting himself swing down to hang underneath, ankles crossed.

"Be careful," Sora said brightly as Terra set off, hand over hand. "That doesn't look too difficult," he said to Ven.

"I dunno…" Ven could see it was tiring work, and Terra had to rest once in the middle before he carried on. There was a tense moment when he thought Terra wouldn't make it onto the platform at the end, but he managed to scramble up and sprawl on it, panting with the effort. He waved and gave them the thumbs up before sitting down to wait for them. "Okay, you go next," Ven said.

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"I'll be fine. You go,"

Needing no more persuasion than that, Sora let Ven help him onto the cable, and he scuttled off at a tremendous pace, tiring quickly and having to make several breaks before he reached the end, and Terra had to haul him onto the platform.

Having someone to help you onto the cable would have been nice, but Ven decided to take the challenge by the horns – he'd opted to stay behind last, he wasn't going to complain about it now. He decided to try and do it quickly, and almost lost the battle with gravity when he jumped onto the cable; but he managed to stay on, and taking his cue from the others took a steady and measured pace, only needing to stop and catch his breath after the others pulled him onto the platform at the other end.

"All right?" Terra asked him.

"Yeah."

"Why did you jump on it? We thought you'd pulled your shoulder!" Sora said, fretting over him.

"I'm fine," Ven pushed him aside. "Let's get going already!"

They all climbed a conveniently placed ladder one at a time up to another platform and saw a long, high wall that undulated like a serpent across a gap with a dark looking pit below. There was just enough space to walk single file as long as they watched their footing. They decided to go across together, though not too close so they had enough room between them. It ended up in a weird sideways march across, edging slowly along the precarious path. It looked as though it had been deliberately left rough and uneven – Ven fancied he could see a few of Leo's paw marks in the jumble of scrapes and scratches across the surface.

Terra made it to the end and turned to wait for them; Sora was just about to take the final few steps to join him, when a groaning noise filled the air, and the pathway under Ven's feet shifted. He yelped, and flailed wildly for purchase on the wall, but he slid to the edge and toppled over with the added momentum of his struggle. As he fell into the space below he heard the others shouting his name, and he landed heavily in the pit below, dazed and winded.

"VEN!" Terra's voice cut through the dimness of his surroundings, and Ven dragged himself into a sitting position, nursing his ribs.

"I'm fine!" he called back, looking around. There was a network of tunnels, and he guessed the net from the cable they had crossed first led to here too. There must be a way back up. "You guys keep going, I'll catch up with you later!"

"You okay?" Sora shouted to make himself heard.

"I'm _fine_!" Ven snapped, irked. "There's a tunnel down here! I'll catch up to you!"

"Okay," Sora didn't sound convinced.

"Can you climb up?" Terra called.

Ven got to his feet and backtracked to see if he could catch a glimpse of them. Some sort of spell had been cast to restrict the level of light that filtered down into the pit, which was why it was cast in shadow – the high wall didn't help either as it blocked the sun. There weren't any ladders around, and he shook his head before bouncing and waving to try and get Terra's attention.

"I don't see anything. Seriously, you guys keep going! I won't be far behind,"

Something was thrown at him, and he caught it haphazardly; it wasn't a potion, but one of Mel's healing tonics that acted as a little pick me up when your injuries weren't severe enough to warrant a potion or healing spell. It was more of a mental restorer than anything else.

"Gee, _thanks_!" Ven sneered, tucking it into his pocket. "Get going!"

"Be careful!" Terra told him sternly, and then there was silence as he and Sora set off again.

Ven considered the tunnels around him carefully before he chose one that went right down the middle and followed it, wondering what Terra and Sora were facing on the surface. His arm and ribs smarted, but beyond a light bruising he wasn't any worse for wear – he'd done far worse to himself in the practises leading up to today. The tunnel seemed to take him further and faster than the others, and he wondered if he should find the first route up and wait for them. When he got to the end he was standing in a large, sort of _container_ really; it was perfectly rectangular and box like, with a steep ramp on either side that led to higher platforms above that spilt and branched off into the obstacle course. Everything was a violent shade of red, punctuated with yellow and orange. And stood in the centre of the arena, hefting his keyblade over his shoulder, was-

"Lea!"

"Looks like the rat trap worked!" Lea said with a playful smirk, lowering his weapon and taking a defensive stance. "You're the first to get here,"

"Huh?" Ven blinked with surprise. "What d'ya mean?"

Lea laughed, throwing his head back and putting his heart and soul into it. "Talk about blank with a capital 'B'! You didn't think we'd skip on the opening ceremony unless we had good reason, did you?" he grinned at Ven, tapping his temple to emphasise his point. "We're here to make sure you don't become a Master so easily. Got it memorised?"

Ven grinned, summoning his blade and taking a stance that would allow him the greatest flexibility of movement. "Don't tell me you forgot about the last time we fought because you wanted to show off!"

"Hey! I'm just following orders, me!" Lea smirked. "Master Aqua insisted on it! Anyway, enough chitchat. You're going down!" and with that, he charged, but Ven was ready for him and sidestepped the attack, clouting him over the head as he went to disorientate him and to prove a point.

They tussled for a bit, trying to get the upper hand over each other, but Ven was well rested from his gentle stroll after his untimely fall, and refused to go down so easily. Lea hurled several fireballs at him in rapid succession, and Ven responded with a flurry of blocks and a single shielding spell that lasted about three seconds to bear the brunt of an especially large one that shattered both the fire and the shield on impact, leaving Ven unharmed.

Lea managed to break through his guard and dealt him a blow to the face, but Ven backed up and danced off to one side so he merely grazed his cheek, and ignored the stinging sensation as he retaliated with a heavy blow that knocked one of Lea's legs off balance. Taking the advantage, he pressed forward and Lea had to retreat, struggling to regain his footing in time to fend off Ven's attacks. They struggled intensely for nearly two solid minutes that felt like hours, but finally Lea found an advantage and took his revenge. Ven felt the wind knocked out of him for the second time that day, taking a blow to the stomach, and he relaxed his body as he fell to the ground, taking Lea with him. He tensed as Lea raised his keyblade to make a finishing blow and threw a hand up into his face, distracting him long enough for Ven to prop himself up with his free hand and slid his legs into a crouched position so he could get up. It was a trick Mel had shown them that she had picked up from a cage fighter – it was weird, unconventional, didn't fit in with their style of fighting, but Ven was grateful now that he had listened to her.

Reeling with surprise, Lea lunged forward to get the upper hand, but Ven lashed out at his legs and kicked him squarely in the knee, bringing him to a shuddering halt as he sank to the ground, grimacing with pain. Another shove to the shoulder and Lea – disorientated and aggrieved – fell onto his back with a grudging acknowledgement.

"Argh…I should've stayed in bed…" he groaned, reaching for a potion.

"You okay?" Ven asked, taking a step towards him, but Lea waved him away.

"You focus on your exam. I have to stay here and wait for the others to pass through. Don't worry!" he added with a laugh when Ven made to help him up. "Aqua gave me a gazillion potions for this. What, you think I'd go down that easily?" he half-heartedly threw his keyblade at Ven, who danced out of the way with a grin. "Get going, already!"

"Good luck, Lea!" Ven called, running up the ramp on the other side of the arena.

"You too!" then, when he thought Ven wasn't listening, "You're gonna need it…"

Still in earshot, Ven heard every word, but he didn't let it bother him. If Lea was here, then Kairi, Mel and Leo had to be as well. That was one mystery and hurt solved for the day.

Bounding along the path that gave way to a rough trail against the side of the valley, Ven didn't notice the creeping darkness until the Shadow heartless jumped on him. He yelled with surprised and flung it from him, trying to remember when Aqua had said anything about the heartless being involved. The Shadow took a moment to get up, having been stunned by the force of its flight into the wall; Ven dispatched it quickly before it had time to launch another attack, and looked around him to check for any more. He highly doubted Aqua had enlisted the heartless as part of the exam, but one of them had been here – and with the heartless where there was one there would usually be more. He'd have to stay on his toes, and warn the others if he saw them.

Running up the gentle slope, Ven nearly pitched himself over the edge of a small precipice; below was a pool that had filled with water from the river, dammed up to create a miniature lake with a small waterfall flowing in and one flowing out. Ven was on a ledge on one side to the left, and across on the other side, at the right side of the valley, was another platform that he obviously had to reach to keep going. There was another tunnel, only just visible from his vantage point, down at the water's edge. It was tempting to jump down and follow it, thus taking the easy subterranean route, but with the appearance of the Shadow Ven wasn't prepared to go scrabbling around in the dark by himself. Instead, he weighed up his options as he studied his surroundings. It seemed almost too easy to use his glider to get across, there _had_ to be some sort of catch…

XOXOX

Aqua watched anxiously from her vantage point at the top of the steep edge of the valley, trying not to bite her nails or wring her hands too much. The moment she had noticed the heartless going after Kairi she had almost called the whole thing off, but the girl dealt with the Soldier easily, and since there were enough of them running around the course together, if anything went really badly wrong someone would run to their aid. Master Eraqus had let things unfold when they went awry at her own exam, but that had been completely different. She wasn't alone with her concerns – Ansem remarked on it, and Donald had a hissy fit, only stopping himself from marching down to Sora's aid because Mickey insisted.

"It certainly adds a twist to events," Ansem said, not overly helpfully.

"Should they be down there?" Kyo asked, playing with the binoculars he had been leant for the occasion. "The heartless, I mean."

"That wasn't part of the plan." Aqua said tightly, watching closely.

Ven had got to the dam, and he was using his glider to get across. And in exactly five seconds it would trigger…

Ven started as the movement set off Cid's magic trap, sending off a spray of water bombs right before the thunder spells started. He zigzagged madly around the area over the pool of water, fighting to keep his vision clear, and Aqua smiled despite her worry. He had discovered the warren of tunnels beneath the obstacle course early on, but he had opted to stay above ground – maybe he wanted to avoid dark spaces after he had encountered the heartless; she had thought he would take the short cut underneath, but he had taken his time in deciding which way to go, so he must have taken full and due consideration.

"Hey look!" Kyo said, pointing back towards the starting end. Riku was prowling the other side of the valley, watching intently for his moment to strike. "I think he's gonna go after Sora," Kyo commented, raising the binoculars. "Terra's already on the other side,"

They were high up, using a bridge made from three strong and sturdy lengths of rope and wire cables plaited together, one in the middle to walk on and two at elbow height either side to hang onto. Terra was waiting for Sora, who was almost in the middle, calling to each other with words that were lost to the spectators. If Riku chose now to attack, Sora would probably walk straight from that fight and into Lea, who would have just finished facing Terra, before he would be reporting back to Aqua. Although…she was tempted to ask him to keep patrolling the course to keep the heartless in check.

Riku tensed and launched himself from the edge of the cliff face and landed with a crouch behind Sora on the bridge before he deftly brought his keyblade down to sever it. Terra made a lunge towards the edge to help but Riku threw up a palling that pushed him back, and he and Sora fell down to the safety net far below. Sora took a moment to register what had happened, but he met Riku blow for blow as they fought – and despite the nature of the clash they seemed to be enjoying beating each other up.

"If you would watch Sora and Riku," Aqua said to Mickey and Ansem, not used to being totally in command. "While I watch Terra?" he was getting close to Lea now, and she needed to pay attention. She had thought she had ironed out the logistics of this exercise, and having so many observers really did help her, but it was still a nightmare to stay on top of everything going on and everyone's progress. She was vaguely aware of Kairi jogging on the spot in her designated area, and Mel running through katas in a calm and controlled manner while Leo bounded around the platform, shaking the structure and could faintly hear him whining with impatience.

Aqua started when she felt Yen Sid put a hand on her shoulder. "You are doing well, almost as well as they are," he nodded at the obstacle course.

Riku was being beaten into submission, Terra was thrashing Lea, and Ven was scrambling up the slope, wringing water from his clothes with a disgruntled look.

Aqua took a deep breath and smiled. "Thank you."

Still, she kept her fingers crossed for them as she watched from on high, trying to be the impartial judge she needed to be, for their sakes.

Sora managed to defeat Riku – mainly because part of the net gave way and he fell through it with a jolt. Sora rushed to help him and fussed over his apparently injured leg before being forced to move on. Aqua would know of the great details that had gone on because Kyo was writing it up in a notebook, and as Ansem he commented before, he was exceedingly thorough and concise. Lea kept throwing himself back at Terra, but eventually had to concede to defeat and let him move on, just as Sora bounded into the ring. Aqua smiled, imagining the complaints he was going to make about this afterwards to her, and he rallied himself into a ready position. Sora gave him a potion and stood by for a moment while he recovered before they began, and Aqua noted it down in her mind for later.

Terra made the same mistake that Ven did at the damn, but he got struck down into the pool and he waded around for a bit before discovering the tunnel and chancing it. In the mean time, Ven had stumbled upon Kairi, and she was eager and raring to go the moment he appeared. Aqua watched as he tried to dodge around her daintily, obviously trying to be a gentleman, and she took full advantage of that to knock the stuffing out of him to the point that he was pulling out a potion and readying his magic for a cure spell. That would count against him; Ven should know better than to treat Kairi like a delicate flower – she was just as determined if not as physically strong as Sora and Riku, and she didn't take anything lying down. He learned quickly enough and started hammering her guard with powerful blows that didn't quite manage to knock her over.

Aqua started again, but this time she had seen something that _definitely_ didn't belong in the obstacle course. Sora had just left, and Lea was resting up before he left to report to her; a heartless, the same size as a horse and shaped like a horribly deranged stag pranced into the arena and kicked its front legs out with a scream. Sora jumped, but when he tried to back track he ran headlong into a shield and fell over, stunned. Something was blocking him from going back to help Lea, and he may have thought it was part of the exam (given he couldn't see what was going on from where he was stood) but not after he'd beat his fists against it and shouted himself hoarse in an attempt to reach Lea.

Aqua turned to Donald and Goofy instantly, saying, "Can you help him?"

"Garwsh!" Goofy looked unsettled, but Donald waved his staff decisively, knocking Goofy and Kyo with it as he did so.

"Of course! Let's go, Goofy!"

"It'll be all right," Kyo said, plucking at Aqua's sleeve. "There's loads of them down there, and even if Sora couldn't get back to him, there're loads of different paths he could take. And those two will look after Lea," the poor man looked like he was on his last legs as he brawled with the heartless. "He's just a bit tired from fighting twice in a row, that's all."

Aqua was one more catastrophe away from attempting to tear her hair out. Why, _why_ were the heartless suddenly _here_, of all places – and on _today_ of all days? Something smelt rotten, and it had Maleficent written all over it; heartless were a rarity in this world, and considering its status as a world placed in balance between the Light and the Dark, that was a bit odd, but the heartless very rarely if ever turned up here. Another reason she had chosen it as the platform for the exam.

Aqua forced herself to focus, and watched Ven finish his battle and run on ahead. Lea was safe by that point, and he was sent off while Donald and Goofy prowled the obstacle course to catch more heartless and offer support to the others. Mel must have sensed something was amiss, because now she was the one pacing with agitation while Leo sat tensely waiting; her keyblades were drawn and her shoulders were set defiantly as she followed a sprawling pattern across the platform that only she could fully understand. Her arena was right at the end, and she would be the last one to leave providing Riku finished up quickly, which seemed to be his intention as he tracked Ven down before performing a running tackle and bowling him over without any warning.

Terra had to be near the end of the tunnel now, and approaching Kairi's battle ground by now…

XOXOX

Something felt off, but Terra couldn't name it until he came out of the underground pathway and into yet another arena built much like the first, only this one was uneven and rough, with pinnacles of rock sticking up from the ground made from gummi blocks, and in an array of soft pastel pinks and deep sunset reds. He was still soaking wet, frazzled by the lighting spells, and thoroughly annoyed he had fallen for it – quite literally.

Kairi was perched on a rock, inspecting a finger with a grimace, but when she saw Terra she stood up and lifted her keyblade.

"You next, then?" he called, suppressing a smile.

"Yup!" she grinned.

Something moved behind her, distracting Terra for a moment as she prepared herself for her first attack. A heartless, looking something like a large deer with thickset legs and a massive rack of sharp and lethal looking antlers came charging out of the shaded corner of the arena – the source of the uneasiness he had felt.

"Look out!" he shouted just in time.

Kairi hesitated before turning to see what the problem was, and Terra launched himself across the ground towards her as she unleashed her magic attack on the heartless instead, before throwing herself aside out of the way.

Much like the battle with Lea, fighting Kairi was part of the exam, but Terra had deduced that the heartless was not an intentional addition judging by the way Kairi reacted with surprise. He set the Mark of Mastery aside for a moment to tackle the new problem, and after she gathered herself Kairi joined him. Terra didn't know what type of heartless it was, he had never encountered one like it; definitely like a deer, but with a stockier build resembling a horse, in lurid purple and bright green with almost zebra like black and white stripes down its side, and with the formidable mantle of razor sharp antlers that sliced into his arm when it got too close. Ignoring the pain and the blood that trickled down his arm Terra tried to get behind it to put in a few good blows, and Kairi followed his lead when she saw what he was doing. Head tossing from side to side, the heartless made the job all the more difficult, especially when it summoned weak but prolonged magic attacks that carved through Terra's senses and made him disorientated.

Kairi took a running leap and landed on its back, clinging to the thick ruff of hair on its shoulders while it charged around and bucked in an attempt to rid itself of the unwanted passenger. Somehow, she managed to partially stand up and waved her keyblade in its face, enraging the beast. It charged straight forward, and crashed headlong into the wall of the valley with such force she was thrown from its back. The huge rack of sharp slicing points and blades was stuck in the wall, and it struggled to free itself.

Terra ran to check Kairi was all right and heaved her to her feet before they went in for the kill. The heartless dissipated with a strangled cry, leaving them panting from the flurry of activity and the rush of adrenaline it had brought.

"Am I right-?" Terra asked, breathing hard. "In thinking that – this wasn't part of the – exam?"

"No." Kairi stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked. "It wasn't." he inspected the finger closely, and Terra saw she had broken the nail – blood was slowly seeping from the wound. She pushed him aside when he offered assistance. "It'll be fine." She took a weirdly shaped plaster from the black bag attached to her belt and deftly applied it to her finger – the weird shape lending greater ease to wrapping around the finger and staying put. "I broke it when I was fighting Ven. At least it wasn't a just a nail and not the bone!"

After she had sorted herself out, and they had both taken a chance to recover a little, they engaged in battle, which Terra won fairly easily, though it dragged on for a bit because they were both tiring. She waved him on, so she could get ready for the next fight, and Terra reluctantly left after Goofy appeared to make sure more heartless didn't show up. He followed the path that had been set out, and saw Riku walking calmly towards him, casual and cool as you please; he smiled warmly, light dancing in his tropical blue eyes that stood out even from this distance. It was an exam, _the_ exam – he should have taken this seriously, but Terra just couldn't. He had to turn it into a joke.

They strolled towards each other, Riku whistling a happy tune, and Terra said, "Mornin'!" brightly. After having seen Sora ambushed as he had been, Terra had figured that Riku was in on the exam and was adding an additional element of surprise to the proceedings

Riku raised his chin and nodded, still bouncing happily to the tune he was spinning. As they drew level with each other they both summoned their keyblades and went for each other's jugulars.

Of course, it was hard to have a special favourite among the keyblade wielders – Terra was fond of all of them, and he owed them all so much, but that didn't stop him having a particular soft spot for Riku. After all, it was he Terra had chosen to pass his powers to, and Riku often sought him out when they were out training or at home having lessons. Despite being a Master already, he still deferred to Terra for advice. Ven wasn't quite so dependant anymore, and more often than not he was off doing his own thing, usually without Terra now – Riku somewhat filled that gap Ven had left as he matured, and Terra enjoyed playing the older brother figure. As such, even though this was his exam, Terra pushed Riku as hard as he could so he had to show off some more complicated and daring moves to avoid injury.

The match was a close call; despite his smaller stature, Riku was incredibly strong and very nimble on his feet, and made for a tough opponent when you were tiring from exertion. However, Terra held his own, and only managed to lose by sheer dumb and lousy luck. The ground of the pathway they were on was slightly uneven, and neither of them noticed the cleft in the dirt, or the crumbling earth around it, until Terra had to back up from a particularly powerful blow and almost twisted his ankle as he stepped onto it. He fell over backwards, surprised, and only just brought his keyblade up in time to catch the strike Riku hurled at him.

At first, Terra was pleased that Riku had got one over him, but then it dawned on him – this was _his_ Mark of Mastery. Would this count against him? If Aqua had been present she would have fussed over him and checked he was all right before clouting him over the head for his footwork.

Riku grinned, sweat glistening on his forehead despite the chill that still pervaded the season, and slowly got up before reaching down to offer Terra a hand. He took it, and let the boy heave him to his feet. For a moment, Terra studied him closely, realising with a jolt soon he wouldn't be able to refer to him as a boy – soon Riku would be a man, an adult, if he was not already so in his attitude. It was probably Sora's influence that kept him from being too serious, and retain that sense of childish playfulness.

"I thought this was supposed to be _your_ test," Riku said teasingly, fishing around for a potion before downing it in one.

"Call it a brotherly instinct," Terra said, forming a fist and gently pressing his knuckles against the side of Riku's head. "You did well, too!"

"You sure don't make it easy! I hate to think what you did to Lea,"

Terra laughed, thinking of the man's face as he had left, just as Sora bounced around the corner. He was going to get a lot of grief over this later…

"Your foot okay?" Riku asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Terra lied, testing the weight on it. He'd had far worse before. "I'll live I think,"

"Good luck," Riku said, walking backwards towards Kairi's arena again, holding his right hand up into a salute, keyblade still held firmly in his grasp. "And take care," he added pointedly.

Terra straightened up and appraised him for a moment before saying, "Was there a contingency plan in case this happened?"

Riku regarded him closely. Terra wasn't supposed to ask about the exam until after it end officially ended, and the Masters involved weren't supposed to tell him anything even if he didn't. In the end, Riku said carefully, "It occurred to us we may have gate crashers, so we asked Mickey and the others to come. It didn't occur to us that the heartless would be the ones gate crashing by themselves."

Terra nodded, and left it at that. Riku didn't need to say any more.

"Oh!" he added as Terra made to leave, "And say hi to Leo for me when you see him!" and with that, Riku spun round and jogged back down the inclining path to Kairi.

Terra slumped against the wall and put a hand over his eyes.

_Oh no…_ he inwardly groaned. _Please no…_

Well, he should have seen it coming – Mel was bound to be part of the test, only it hadn't occurred to him Leo would be as well. Terra wasn't looking forward to this anymore; he just wanted it over and done with, and fervently hoped someone could help him repair the damage his armour was sure to sustain.

XOXOX

Hovering anxiously by the mouth of the valley, Aqua suppressed a laugh.

The final stage of the obstacle course was a raised circular platform that Mel had constructed with four wooden pillars pointing in the cardinal directions, painted and decorated with hand made paints from crushed plants and rocks, and festooned with various feathers, carvings, beads, and all corresponding with the element each direction was associated with. Leo was sat in the centre, nostrils flaring as he scented Terra before he was in sight. Mel had sat down after Ven left, racing back up to the castle where Yen Sid was waiting for him; she was clearly tired from the fight, and she had put up a courageous fight, but Ven certainly was the stronger warrior, even with a near juvenile dragon careening around the platform getting in his way.

Riku had already fought Terra, and they had stood talking for a bit before they parted ways, and Aqua guessed something was weighing heavily on Terra's mind as he plodded along. She was worried, but as he stepped onto Mel's arena he threw his arms wide, gazing balefully up at Leo, and Aqua clearly heard him say, "Just get it over with!" Mel laughed at the unexpected statement, and side stepped Leo as he pounced in response to the invitation.

Aqua was distracted by Lea and Kairi's arrival, and tore her attention away from the battle below for a few moments to deal with the problems that were arising. Ansem would escort the two of them back up to the castle with Kyo; Riku along with Donald and Goofy would hang round to watch out for Sora and Mel, and soon Terra would be back up to the castle too. Mickey would be staying with Aqua to assess the two remaining candidates, and then they would return to the great hall for the final stage before they gathered together to pass judgement. She nodded in agreement, listened to what they had to say, and then chased them off so she could focus on Terra.

He was limping, possibly from the tumble he had taken whilst fighting Riku, and Leo made his life especially difficult. The dragon ran back and forth, beat his wings and roared with great gusto in Terra's face to distract him, but it also kept Mel from actually being able to do her job. Eventually she gave him a great shove out of the way and engaged in a swordfight that didn't last very long at all. Even then, it was hard to keep the battle going while Leo was constantly in the way – Mel wasn't safe from his whipping tail either, and she had a few good bruises by the end of it. Aqua had told them both to make each battle different according to who they were fighting. Leo had taken a back seat against Ven, but he was really going for it with Terra – maybe even to Mel's detriment.

It was clear that they were both getting frustrated with Leo; Terra had always had a bit of a temper, especially when he was tired, hungry, cold, or a combination there of. His clothes were still wet from his fall into the magic trap, it was pretty chilly that day from the wind, he must be getting tired after dodging obstacles and being set upon by the other keyblade wielders, and Aqua was certainly getting hungry herself – it was ticking all the right boxes to put him in a bad mood.

Eventually, his patience wore too thin and Terra struck Leo on the nose, casting a stop spell so he collapsed to the ground and froze. "Would you just quit it already!" he shouted in exasperation.

Aqua tried to stifle her laughter. Mel hung her head and partially covered her face with her right hand before pinching the bridge of her nose. When she spoke, it was too quiet for Aqua to hear from where she was stood watching, but Terra shrugged it off with a laugh and dashed over to Mel, keyblade at the ready. When the spell wore off, full of righteous indignation Leo pulled up to his full height and used his paralysing roar without any warning.

Terra and Mel ceased up and keeled over mid step, keyblades scattered across the arena floor like pick-up sticks. Even from where she stood watching Aqua fell to her knees, though it seemed below they bore the brunt of the attack. Leo snapped at Terra, and got his teeth around the guard on his shoulder, which he kept pulling at while he slowly recovered.

"Get out of it!" he groaned, then sensing it was futile, he reached up and undid the clips that held the armour in place. Leo yelped and tumbled forward with the force of his antics, and Terra got unsteadily to his feet. Mel shot Leo a pleading look before she resumed her defensive stance.

Aqua wondered to herself as she watched them, when Mel would be having her own Mark of Mastery. She was bearing up, but only just; she was quick, and she had a knack of finding the weak link in her opponent's chain, but she lacked the aggressive drive to really push into it. If she were of a sadistic persuasion she would have been ruthlessly efficient, but she still held back a bit whether in training or for real.

Mel was the first to drop out of the fight, but Leo was still in, and while she hung back recovering, he really hounded Terra – _almost_ into submission. Almost, but not quite. His armour was tucked teasingly behind one of Leo's formidable horns, just out of reach, and Terra was going to want it back. He seemed to slow his attacks down, becoming slowly more defensive while Leo harried him with powerful raking strikes from his front legs and a conspicuous display of all six fangs as he snarled.

Then, Terra dived and rolled out from under his feet, leaving Leo stunned. He grabbed Mel and pulled her into a body lock, keeping her in front of him to bear the brunt of the attacks aimed at him. Leo shrieked in alarm and pulled up short, making the whole platform shake and staring at Terra in disbelief. Mel's eyes were wide, but she didn't resist; she had already admitted defeat.

Terra raised his left hand, his right arm keeping a firm grip on Mel, and motioned as he spoke in a voice too low for Aqua to hear from where she was watching. Leo stared uncomprehendingly at him for a few moments before grudgingly reaching up and unhooking the guard from behind his horns and letting it fall to the ground. He nosed it forward to the space between them, and Terra gently let Mel go and pushed her towards him. Leo fell upon her lovingly, licking her face and grooming her hair out of the thick plait she had spent most of breakfast braiding it into. Terra banished his keyblade and bent down to pick the guard up before wiping the dirt from it and strapping it to his arm again. He stood with his arms wide in surrender, and Leo looked for a moment as if reconsidering their pact, but turned away to look at the ground, submitting without any prompting from Mel. She laughed at something Terra said, they bumped fists, and he was off back towards the castle while she chugged a potion and waited for Sora.

"Gosh," Mickey with a chuckle. "It looks like he negotiated his way out of that one!"

"Not that any real villain would consider holding his armour to ransom." Aqua said flippantly, flicking her hand in a gesture that belied her smile. It was clever, but then again he knew Leo well enough to gauge how best to settle the dispute. Using that tactic with an enemy that was an unknown quantity could backfire badly. Still, it was clever and quick thinking. She felt it counted for something. "And that just leaves…" Aqua murmured to herself, tracing a finger through the air as she tried to spy them out in the course below. "One more to go." Sora ran up the final pathway that led to Mel's platform, and Leo's head snapped up at the sound, nostrils wide. "Poor Mel, she looks exhausted."

XOXOX

Sora was grinning as he climbed the slope - he had just crossed a pit using monkey bars, which he hadn't done in _years_. He had forgotten how much fun they could be! From what Riku said, Mel would be around here somewhere, and then they would have to go back up to the castle.

"Hi!" he called as he ran onto the platform, stopping to take in the view fully. Four pillars, placed in the north, south, east and west, and decorated in full shamanic style. It looked really cool! Mel was getting to her feet, staggering slightly as Leo offered his neck for support. "You're the last ones, right?"

"Yes," she nodded, listing slowly to the right. Her hair had once been pulled into a neat and tidy plait, and it was now escaping its confines with a vengeance. "You're the last one through,"

"Aww man!" Sora pouted. "I was racing Ven, too!"

"It's not a race, remember." Mel said evenly, straightening up and holding her keyblades at the ready.

"I know that," Sora said to mollify her. He dropped into a fighting stance, timing the summoning of his own keyblade perfectly. "Shall we?"

"We shall," she said with a nod, and they ran to meet each other in the middle.

Clearly, she was very tired, and Sora tried to rein it in a bit when his first blow nearly brought her down. If not for Leo, the battle would have been over far quicker; he kept dancing in between them and catching Sora with a stray swipe of his paw or with his whip like tail. He scooped Mel up with the backward facing joint of his front leg and used it as a ledge to boost her onto his back. She quickly clipped herself into the harness while Leo roared a challenge to Sora, and then he had to back up as both warrior and dragon bore down on him. It was, in a word, _hard_ to fight against someone while they were perched on the sloping shoulders of a young dragon, but Sora persisted. He always managed to draw on deep reserves of energy to keep himself going for a time, but what really kept his spirit up was Riku's promise of a party with nice _cool_ drinks and plenty of cake at the end of this long slog.

Pushing back with several powerful blows of his own, Sora battled on relentlessly against Mel's onslaught, and watched as she very rapidly began losing her energy. In fact…he gasped, remembering those weird black stones from James' Town. He took a step back to avoid Leo's strike, and stepped forward again when Mel swayed dangerously before she gracefully tilted over the edge and fell so she ended up hanging upside down against Leo's side, tangled in the harness.

Sora rushed to help her as Leo sank onto all fours and turned his head, snorting with alarm and calling her name. He carefully disengaged her from the straps and helped Mel to the ground where she flopped into a messy heap. Sora slowly sank to his knees, panting heavily; he was _sure_ it was the same sensation, though somewhat diluted. He explained quickly and Leo prowled off in search of the disturbance, but by the time he stalked back the feeling was gone, and Sora felt a little better, though Mel was still breathing hard.

"You okay?" Sora asked anxiously, nudging her as Leo licked her land appealingly.

"Yeah, I think…so," she struggled to sit up, nursing her head. "I just felt really…dizzy, like I had no energy left. I don't know what happened."

Sora frowned. "I think something fishy's going on round here!"

"Sora! Mel!" Riku shouted, reaching the top of the rise and nodding in response to Sora's wave. "Everything okay?"

"No, Mel's not well at all,"

"I'm fine," she said stubbornly in her normal demure tone, struggling to get onto her knees. She needed help to stand up, and Leo keened loudly to get their attention. He stared from them up the pathway back to the castle and back, and Mel nodded, exhaling a bit too hard to be considered perfectly normal.

"It's okay, you go on ahead." Riku told him. "Donald and Goofy are just coming, she's safe with us."

Leo chirruped in response, and paused long enough to lick Sora's cheek before he spread his wings and launched himself into the air.

"Gawrsh!" Goofy said when they finally arrived. "Are you all right, Mel?"

"I'm _fine_, really," she said, leaning heavily on Riku's arm. "I just need to catch my breath." Sora exchanged looks with Riku, and they came to an unspoken agreement. He handed Mel his last hi-potion, forcing it into her hands when she tried to refuse. "What about you?" she asked, wide eyed and startled.

"I'll be fine," Sora insisted, waving the thought away vaguely. "C'mon, we have to get back up to the castle," he scooped her up and plonked her on his back before she could object, and she was too tired to fight back so she conceded.

With Riku, Donald and Goofy around them in a defensive triangle, they made their way along the path and back to the courtyard in front of the castle. Despite being tired himself, Mel was pretty light considering how much of her body mass was muscle (Riku never shut up about how muscle weighed more than fat every time Sora complained he was heavy, and Mel was by no means scrawny). By unspoken consensus, being the least well-rested Sora would carry her, so the others could properly defend them if the heartless descended. Luckily for them they didn't, and they reached the main doors without incident. Kyo met them there Mickey, and the boy ran ahead to let the others know; they were trudging into the great hall when Leo descended upon them and plucked Mel from Sora, snuggling her up against his side and cooing happily the way Sora remembered from when he had been a chick, albeit in much deeper, richer tones.

Lea and Kairi were stood to attention on one side, the Masters convened on the dais, and Terra and Ven at the centre in the front, both holding themselves up against the drag of their exhaustion. After Mel was safely deposited with the others Leo curled up into a ball to watch the proceedings and Sora fell into line with the others.

"Now what?" he whispered to Ven, who shrugged absently.

"Dunno."

"Sssh!" Terra hissed, and they stood up straight again.

Aqua came to the front, somewhat stiffer than she had been before, and Sora could see the worry in her eyes.

"As you have probably gathered, the heartless were not a welcome addition to the proceedings, but all of you," she turned to the three on the sidelines with a smile to include them in her praise. "Conducted yourselves in a commendable fashion, for yourselves and for each other."

Sora glanced across and saw Kairi grinning at him, and he grinned back. He'd had a lot of fun fighting Kairi, especially when she sent him flying with a powerful magic attack – it was good to see her own progress coming along tremendously.

Aqua cleared her throat, and he snapped back to the front again.

"It takes a lot to keep a steady heart when the friends around you are in danger." She continued. "And now, for the final test,"

Sora glanced at Ven, who blinked, before comprehension dawned on his face.

"The three of you will engage in combat until you feel you can go no further."

Sora wasn't sure of the task, and looking from Ven to Terra he guessed they were just as surprised as he was.

"When we spar against each other, there are no winners or losers; only deeper truths that are revealed to us about our own nature, and the nature of our opponents. Our candidates are separated in age, but they are matched in power and strength. You may begin!"

It took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did, Sora took a sweeping and dramatic look from first Terra to Ven, and then sprang back to summon his keyblade as Ven dived to one side to avoid Terra's downward strike.

A three way sparring match was something Sora had never participated in, and it was far more confusing than he would have believed possible. One moment he was running from the two men, the next he was ganging up on Ven with Terra's help, and then he was chasing Terra down with Ven on his heels full of the same intent.

Terra was limping from an injury he had sustained earlier, but it did little to slow him down over all; Ven's blows were powerful, but his footwork was getting sloppy and his moves ever more reckless. Sora started making more effort to dart out of the way and block at the last moment than to push forward with any real force – he had no potions of any kind on him, and he had neglected to pack enough ethers for his magic so he would only get in one good cure spell if at all. He decided to risk casting it to make sure he didn't pass out, but in the process he got clipped with a stray blow, and soon was on the run again from Terra's hammering strikes.

In the end, it wasn't much of a contest to hang in there and more like a synchronised surrender. Sora stumbled and lost his footing, and failed to raise his keyblade in time to block Ven's attack; he fell to his knees, breathing hard and sweat beading on his forehead – before he heard a clatter and looked up to see Ven crouched on one knee and using his blade to prop himself up, panting; he had diverted his blow when he saw Sora fall. Terra had been running towards them, but he seemed to give up moments after Ven and sank to the ground as well, giving into his exhaustion.

Lea brought them water, and then retreated back to his place while the Masters disappeared. Sora was about to get up and go talk to Kairi when Ven grabbed his arm and sank to the floor again to tether him down.

"Can't," he spoke with as few words as possible. "You gotta stay here. It's the rules."

"Oh," Sora felt dampened. He looked up to see Aqua returning and calling to Kyo to follow. The boy stared at her in disbelief from his perch on the arm of the chair, as if it hadn't occurred to him he would be included in the meeting. As he scampered after her Leo raised his head and made that odd call of his that was somewhere between a roar, a grunt, and that grating noise he made at the back of his throat, looking straight at Sora. "Oh yeah!" he said, scrabbling to his feet. "Aqua! Uh- _Master_!" he called, and she turned to him. "I need to tell you something,"

"You have to wait till after we've held a council," she said in a tight voice that threw him for a moment.

"No, that's not it! It's about Mel," he nodded to her where she was sat on the floor slowly recovering. Sora was about to keel over himself, but he had to tell her. "I think Pete may have had something to do with the heartless being around, cause I had the feeling like when he used those stones against us right before Mel fell off Leo. We looked for one when the fight was over but we couldn't find one and the feeling was gone. I thought you should know,"

Aqua smiled at him, though she was concerned. "Thank you, Sora. You'd better go sit down before you fall over," she said, shooing him away with concern.

Sora plodded over to his fellow candidates and used Terra's arm as a pillow when he sank to the hard floor. "So…tired…"

"Don't fall asleep again, Ventus!" Lea said tauntingly. "Wouldn't want to go into another coma, now!"

Terra shot him a venomous look, and Ven snapped, "Oh _shut up_!" but Kairi stood up and whacked him round the back of the head with her fist, which effectively settled the matter for them all.

XOXOX

The council of the Mark of Mastery was held, and they reached their decision. Yen Sid watched carefully as Aqua argued with the others, pointing out flaws and triumphs in equal measure. She was ruthless in her appraisal of their skills, but listened to the points everyone else had to make, and took their point of view on board. Together, they decided the out come of the exam.

The Aqua stood up and said she would go and check on them, concerned by Mel's state and what Sora had told her about his suspicions. She offered them all to wait a bit longer in the study to allow them time to rest their minds as the others rested their bodies. As she left, Yen Sid sat up straighter and looked around at people gathered there for the exam.

"Well, I think we have seen enough." He said levelly. "I shall ask for a simple show of hands. You know the motion," he nodded gravely at Mickey who was the closest. "What say you?"

"Aye!" he said cheerfully, raising his hand.

Donald and Goofy followed him when Yen Sid turned to them. Riku's hand shot into the air enthusiastically, and for one moment his resemblance to Sora was uncanny.

Ansem raised his hand slowly and said in a calm voice, "Aye."

They looked expectantly at Kyo, who stared back in amazement. "You want _my_ opinion?"

"Well, yeah," Riku said, suppressing a laugh.

"But I'm not a keyblader!" he protested.

"Neither am I," Ansem was amused by his reaction.

"So I have a say?" Kyo asked, wide eyed.

"Sure!" Riku grinned.

"What say you, Kyo?" Yen Sid asked him.

Kyo stood up and waved his hand saying, "Aye-aye!"

Yen Sid smiled at the congregated men around him. "Then we are all in accord?"

XOXOX

Terra felt the tight knot of nerves in the pit of his stomach as everyone returned to their seats, and suddenly realised how anxious he really was. He didn't want to fail again, for the memory of his old Master, but also for Aqua's sake. Sora had found his second wind and was bouncing with excitement while Ven had become quiet and withdrawn – the way he coped with severe nerves. It was funny, because normally Terra saw the similarities between the two of them, but he suddenly realised how very different Ventus and Sora really were.

Aqua took her place before them, taking a deep and steadying breath. Terra inwardly berated himself; Light only knew how Aqua was feeling about this whole thing! It was on her head to organise and moderate the exam – he wondered if he would have been able to handle the pressure in her place. Probably not…

"We have deliberated and reached a decision." She paused, trying to calm herself down, her face void of any emotion. It was disconcerting.

Sora crossed his fingers on both hands and raised them slightly, and Terra tried to remember how to breathe. He inwardly squirmed when he remembered the last time this had happened, and everything that had gone wrong after that. He didn't know _what_ to think now.

"Terra, Sora, Ventus. The three of you all worked and fought hard for today, and you should all be commended. And," her face split into a grin just before she said, "I am delighted to tell you that all three of you have shown the Mark of Mastery!"

It took a moment for her words to really sink in, and then Sora was hugging him around the neck, crowing before he reached to pull Ven in as well, and he heard the others cheering from the edge of the hall. Kyo whooped and jumped into the air, pumping his fists in celebration, and everyone was deafened by Leo's roar as he reared up onto his hind legs to tower over them all.

And then it really hit Terra – he was a _Master_.

"Yes!" Ven bounced as energetically as Sora, looking up at Terra with wide, shining eyes like he had the first time he had performed a kata for Master Eraqus perfectly. "We did it! We're all Masters!"

Terra couldn't speak, he just crushed his little brother to his chest. He'd done it; he'd actually _done it_. He was so relieved, he could only laugh, the tight knot snapping loose and leaving a giddy, light happiness in its wake.

"And!" Riku said loudly over the noise, calling some semblance of order and attention back to him. "In light of Master Aqua's impartial judgement of the Mark of Mastery, despite her vested emotional interest in the candidates, and her careful consideration in the planning and execution of the exam in all aspects, we have deliberated and reached our own decision." Aqua was looking at him as he spoke unexpectedly. It seemed she wasn't in on something. "Master Yen Sid, King Mickey, Ansem the Wise and myself, as well as Donald, Goofy and Kyo – see fit to bestow the title of High Master upon Aqua for her dedication to her friends and the good of the Light." He brought his feet together and bowed low from the waist to the onlookers. "That is all." He said definitively.

Aqua gasped and took a step back from him, her jaw dropped. The stunned silence lasted a split second, and then everyone was cheering again, none more loudly than Ven and Terra. She turned to them with wide, unbelieving eyes, and she followed mechanically as Riku dashed from the dais and jumped on Sora in celebration the way only teenaged boys seemed to do, yelling in celebration to each other.

"Way to go!" Ven whooped, flinging his arms around Aqua's neck as she approached them, and she hugged him automatically, still unable to comprehend what had just happened. "We did it!" Ven held her at arms length, and she smiled widely at him, reaching up to stroke his face. "We did it! The three of us!"

Terra grabbed them both in a bear hug and laughed freely without restraint. He looked up when Lea clapped him on the back, and Leo tried to lick his face off, humming with great and loud pleasure at the proceedings.

Ven let Aqua go to grab Mel, who had stumbled over and squeaked at the sudden gesture. "Just you left now!" he said happily, lifting her up so she had to look down on him. "And then that's everyone!" he set her down again and she had to lean on Leo's neck for support, who started licking Ven's face as well.

"Hello!" Kairi snapped, nursing her injured finger wrapped in a blood stained plaster. "Who am _I_, chopped liver?" she yelped as Sora rushed her and flung his arms around her before he lifted her up as well and spun round in a circle, whooping loudly. "Put me down!"

"I'm the same level as Riku! We all passed!" he crowed, and then suddenly pitched to one side in his exhaustion, his second wind diminishing suddenly.

"Watch it!" Riku said, leaping in to bar his path to the floor. "You need to take it easy,"

"Riku!" Sora nearly throttled him with his enthusiasm as he hugged his best friend. "Thank you Riku! You're the best!" he grabbed Aqua, shuffling forward to do so and hugged her as well. "You too, Aqua!"

"Oh," Lea said, taking a sweeping step back so he could bow in a manner most dramatic and flamboyant. "Don't you mean – _High_ Master Aqua?"

Aqua raised a hand to hide her face, cheeks flushing.

"What's wrong?" Ven asked, plucking at her sleeves the way he did when he was a kid, and worried about how she was feeling.

She blinked slowly and gave him a tortured look. "It's _your_ day. I don't…deserve to be higher than anyone else…"

"Aw, who cares!" he threw his arms up as he spoke before grabbing her for another hug. "We got our dream! We're all Master's! And Sora too!"

"Heaven forbid we forget about _Sora_!" Lea smirked.

The others from the dais had joined the throng, and Sora disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. Kyo started dancing a merry jig before shuffling over to Mel in concern; Mickey as almost as excited as Sora, and kept shaking hands and congratulating everyone over and over. Ansem was clearly delighted but more reserved than his friend, and even Yen Sid was less stoic than usual as he spoke to them.

"Well done, the three of you. It was well deserved,"

"Thank you, Master," Terra said, managing to sound calm. Well, calmer than Sora and Ven, certainly. Chances were they wouldn't be shutting up about this any time soon. The heartless were forgotten in a heartbeat – all that mattered was that they had passed, and they had their friends there to celebrate with them.

Terra felt a hand on his and turned to find a pair of beautiful blue eyes watching him, the familiar darker shade around the edges of the iris, with that brilliant electric hue around the pupils that stood out most when the light fell on them at a certain angle.

"Congratulations." Aqua said in a soft voice.

"Like wise," he said, raising a hand to cup her chin and tilt her face upward, unable to hide his grin.

Aqua's hand slid up his arms and he lent down as her hands tangled in his matted hair to press his lips against hers, and he forgot about everything – the heartless, the hall full of onlookers, everything.

He had finally achieved his goal, what he had been working towards for years. He knew Eraqus would be proud of him if he could see them now – proud of all of them. Whatever veins of darkness that ran through his being were being held carefully in check, and he felt in no danger of giving in to them. And with it came the unexpected power of self-control, and the knowledge that he _was_ strong enough to protect the things that really mattered to him.

Like the woman in his arms.

Terra was dimly aware of Lea's catcalls, and his yelp as several people swatted at him, Leo's grating laugh and the knowing chuckles of the adults, coupled with Sora's excited cheers on everyone's behalf, and Ven's snide remark aimed at them.

It didn't really matter to Terra. All that mattered was that, at this precise moment in space and time, he was kissing Aqua. Despite the exhaustion dragging at his body, the pain in his leg, and the crowd around him, nothing could deter him from physically communicating the depth of his feelings.

Beside her warming and loving acceptance of him, warts and all, passing the Mark of Mastery was just a cherry on top of the cake.

"Um," Sora said loudly, and Terra reluctantly let Aqua tear herself away from him to address the boy's request. He was sat on the floor, with Donald and Kairi hugging him while Goofy stood to one side chuckling and Riku used his head as a leaning post. "I was told there would be cake…" Sora began, and everyone burst out laughing. "I'm hungry!" he wailed as they tugged him to his feet, then shot Riku an accusatory look. "You said there was cake!"

"You'll have cake when you shut up," Riku snapped, and then with a gleam of mischief dancing in his eyes he swept into a graceful bow. "_Master_ Sora!"

Sora grinned and pointed at him, "I don't have to do what you tell me anymore! Ha!"

"Like that ever stopped you in the first place," Riku sighed as Sora bounced off across the hall, his third wind already kicking in.

"C'mon guys! _Cake_!"

Ven sank to his knees dramatically and panted. "Where? Just…_where_ does he get that energy from? Seriously!"

"I do believe," Ansem said to Mel as they slowly followed in Sora's wake. "Hyper-active heart disorder says it all."

Mel laughed, and simply smiled when Kyo pestered her for answers.

"Oh!" Aqua clapped a hand to her forehead. "I almost forgot!"

"Not more, please!" Ven begged. "I'm dying here!"

"The…thing," she looked to Riku, who shrugged.

"Tell them later?" he suggested.

"Tell us what?" Ven asked, suddenly no longer dying.

"I'll tell you three later," she said impatiently, shunting him along. "I doubt something will happen between now and then."

"What if it does?" Ven insisted shrewdly.

"You want cake or not?" Aqua countered, and he gulped.

"What _sort_ of thing is it?" he asked with narrowed eyes as they entered the corridor towards the common room.

"The sort of things Masters are expected to know. Now shut up."

Sora had run on ahead, and returned with a large cupcake, grinning until Riku snatched it from him and held it out of reach. "Hey! No fair, Riku!" he shouted, trying to get it back.

"You can't have this one," he said quickly.

"Why not! I just busted my butt for the exam, I demand cake!"

"You can't have this one!"

They fought for a moment, and Leo ended it by snaking his head over and nipping the cake from Riku's hand. As it turned out, the cake had been artfully decorated with little iced flowers and hearts, with the word 'COMMISORATIONS' carefully drawn across it. Sora stared from it, clearly on display from the gentle hold of Leo's jaws, back to Riku – severely wounded.

"You thought I couldn't really do it? Thanks a lot Riku!"

Riku had the grace to look somewhat ashamed, but his indignation flared more brightly still. "Well knowing you anything could have happened, I thought I should at least be prepared."

Sora got right up in his face, both of them snarling. "What's that supposed to mean!"

"Well you're _always_ falling asleep on the job and I thought that-!"

Ven turned to Aqua and Terra, his expression heavy and bored. "I'm going to get something to eat." He said tonelessly and stomped past the bickering boys without waiting for a response.

"Cake sounds good…" Mel breathed, eyes closed and leaning against Leo for support.

Aqua cocked her head to one side, sighing heavily and regarding the two young Keyblade Masters who were still under her authority. She lips quirked into a tired looking smile, and Terra couldn't resist kissing her again right on the corner of her mouth. She gave him a disparaging look and said, "And _you_ want?"

Terra's face flushed. If he were a teenager again, and they were completely alone, the answer would probably have been very different. But circumstances didn't quite allow for his more wild fantasies so he was left to flounder instead, trying not to meet her eye.

Ven stormed back with a plate of cakes and held it under Sora's nose as he prepared to physically strike out at Riku. "Just eat one and shut up already!"

"Gee, thanks Ven!" Sora said happily, grabbing a couple and forgetting his anger in an instant. Riku sagged against the wall, shaking his head. "What?"

"You're just too weird…"

After a pause, Sora said in a small voice, cake halfway to his mouth, "I thought that was a good thing?"

"Come on," Aqua tugged at Terra's arm and he followed mutely, still caught up in the dizzying thoughts racing around his head. She looked up at him, smiling playfully. "Master Terra,"

He couldn't help but grin in response, giving her hand a squeeze. Ven handed the plate to Lea and stomped over, glowering before he put his arms around Aqua's neck and nearly made her topple over as he sagged against her.

"Ven?" she asked anxiously.

"So…_tired_…" he moaned.

Aqua hugged him back, closing her eyes and smiling her best, warmest, motherly smile. Terra enveloped them both in his arms, just savouring the moment.

"You think that…" Ven said hesitantly while the others moved off without them, sounding like was a child again. "The Master would be proud of us?"

"I don't think so," Terra said firmly, ruffling his hair. "I _know_ so."

XOXOX


	15. After The Test

**AN: before I say anything else – hurray for unimaginative titles! xD this is more of a setting up chapter, not that much action but I felt I couldn't run into the advancing action without setting it up first – hence the waffle. Enjoy! :P**

**As always, any feedback you have for me is greatly appreciated, as are all the favourites and alerts :) thanks guys!**

**And as always and forever more – thanks to **HeartOfFyrwinde **for being my muse and first grade ideas bouncer. More virtual chocolate cakes for you ;)**

_**After The Test**_

"And _what_," Maleficent asked coldly as Pete huffed and puffed his way up the stairs towards her. "Are you doing here?"

She had set Tomasa a few exercises to do, to reassure his power and control, and to her delight he displayed all the right qualities of an adept sorcerer – all he lacked was experience. She knew he didn't like Pete at all, and she wanted to keep Tomasa in a good mood so his astounding progress would continue. Pete wasn't supposed to be here at all while Tomasa was practising.

Pete took a moment to regain his breath, and then straightened up. He was often nervous around her, but he seemed angry about something today.

"Got a message from the heartless patrol." He explained. "Said there were some heartless what went to the Land of Departure. I hadn't said nothin' about goin' anywhere near that place, so I went along to check out what they were up to."

"And?" Maleficent demanded, feeling that he was wasting her time and energy at that moment.

"Well…somethin' peculiar was goin' on." Pete looked troubled by it. "They wouldn't listen to me – somethin' else was drivin' them on, and it was _strong_. Those keyblade wielders were holding some sort of test, and the heartless were gate crashing. I never told'em to, and I tried to get them to lay off, but they just wouldn't listen t'me!"

Maleficent gave him a searching look as she caressed the orb on her staff, thinking deeply on his words. Eventually she said, "And has it not occurred to you that perhaps you are simply losing your touch? You incompetent-!"

"Now hold on a minute!" he said indignantly. "It was only in that world! Everywhere else they obeyed me! No, there was definitely somethin' in that world that was commandin' them."

"A more powerful entity, that can control the heartless?" she said aloud, slowly turning the possibilities over in her mind. She knew, of course, the heartless weren't the only creatures of Darkness, but her knowledge on those particular beings was…hazy at best. "Well now, that is interesting…" she mused. "Pete," she said sharply, mind racing ahead. "While I continue young Tomasa's tutelage, I want you to go and find out anything you can about this disturbance. And continue to watch for that dragon."

Most intriguing… Maleficent wanted to know more, if this was a possible ally or a potential threat. She was also still keen on getting hold of that dragon, if she could.

XOXOX

It was, all in all, a peaceful evening. There was some hilarity, some romance, and a lot of good-humoured fun. It was like a scene from one of Aqua's cheesy novels, the sort of ending chapter where everyone's happy and getting along, and just having fun.

Sora eventually succumbed to the oh so human need to sleep and crashed into a heap on the floor, and no one could get him to stir for quite a while. Ven curled up against Leo's side and dozed off while Mel showed Ansem how to play with her set of knucklebones and the deck of tarot cards, playing a few games with Kyo to demonstrate before letting him have a turn, the three of them seated on the floor surrounded by Leo's long feathered tail. Kairi rowed with Lea over the proper manner in which to cast spells, and Riku started making a game of trying to wake Sora up; poking him in the ribs or neck, even slapping the back of his head in an attempt to rouse him. Sora whimpered and moaned, and kept shuffling back and forth to get away from the source of the annoyance, remaining steadfastly dead to the world. When Riku went to more drastic measures to awaken him, Aqua felt the need to step in, and Kairi clouted him round the head with a scowl.

"Nnngh…" Sora thrashed for a moment, hands flailing as Riku sulked. "Uhh?" he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling above him. "Where am I?"

"You're on the moon." Lea said with a grin. "We're having a cheese themed tea party with aliens."

"Oh. Okay, cool." And with that he rolled over and fell asleep again.

"You'd think with all the napping these guys do, the worlds would have been eaten by a horde of demonic monsters by now." Lea said loudly, reclining on a pile of cushions as opposed to his favourite chair where Yen Sid was residing.

"They've had a long day," Kairi snapped, standing over Sora defensively as Leo scuttled over to sniff him. "Get away!"

"What makes you think _I_ haven't?" Lea snapped. As Aqua had predicted, he hadn't let anyone forget how unfairly he had been treated during the exam.

Leo looked hurt at Kairi's rejection and stomped over to Aqua where he collapsed in a heap, begging for her attention. Ven crawled over to where Mel was sat and used her back as a pillow, since his previous bed had removed itself from the proceedings. Leo glowered at Kairi as Aqua scratched his neck, and she said, "I think he's grown again. He _must_ qualify for an adolescent now, surely." Leo croaked and closed his eyes happily, forgetting his grudge.

"I have a measuring tape!" Kyo said eagerly.

"There's not really enough room in here to measure his wing span." Mel said fairly. "Maybe tomorrow?"

Leo snaked his head over to Terra, who was splayed out on the sofa beside Aqua. He was lying on his stomach, as he often did, and just like Sora he was totally oblivious to everything going on around him. Leo licked his cheek, seeking more affection, and Terra jerked awake with a start.

"Oh," he blinked as the dragon tried to lick his face again. "It's you."

"Tehhrahhh!" Leo rumbled, trying to get Terra to sit up and play.

"Not now…" he groaned, trying to bury himself as far into the sofa as he could.

"Hey!" Kyo said, leaping to his feet and waving something under Leo's nose – a nice big shiny something that sparkled in the soft light from the fireplace, and his eyes latched onto it instantly. "Wanna look at this? Watch the sparkly now!" Kyo slowly backed up, carefully avoiding treading on anyone, and Leo followed, drawn irresistibly to the gummi block held tantalisingly just beyond his nose. Once in a slightly more secluded corner Kyo surrendered the block to Leo, who sat down to chew on his new toy like a hatchling, and then started playing with the light that danced off the surface onto the walls.

"He's brilliant with Leo." Mel said fondly, picking up the game her brother had left unfinished in his haste to save Terra.

"They'll keep each other entertained for hours," Ansem said with a smile just as tender as Mel's.

Aqua crawled up alongside Terra, who at first groaned and tried to push her away. She smiled and swatted at him before settling comfortably, partially splayed across his back and lying on her side with her own back against the back of the sofa. He grumbled for a moment, but drifted off again quite quickly, leaving her free to stroke his hair and nuzzle up against his neck without causing him abject embarrassment; no one was really looking their way, they were either fast sleep, dozing, or watching Leo mess around with Kyo.

Much later, after everyone had recovered somewhat, Ven sat up and yawned widely before spreading himself in front of the fire, lounging happily while Sora got up and crawled over to the unfinished platter of cakes. Riku complained he was going to make himself sick, but Sora shrugged and munched his way through the not so mountainous pile of baked goods.

"If everyone is sufficiently rested," Yen Sid said out of the blue, drawing everyone's attention. "I have an announcement to make."

"I'm not getting up." Ven said stubbornly, and yelped when Leo's muzzle poked him in the gut. The dragon chortled at his reaction and pressed harder, tickling him until Mel had to come and prise him off of Ven.

Aqua poked Terra gently until he came to, bleary eyed and not impressed he was being denied his rest but willing to listen to what had to be said. Yen Sid sat up straighter in his chair, and it seemed even Ansem and Mickey didn't know what was about to be said – the day had been too full of surprises already for Aqua to really keep up. The words_ high_ and _master_ in conjunction with her name still didn't seem to slot together properly in her mind.

"As you know, the discovery of a dragon tied to the keyblade, that myself and my colleagues thought were merely stories, is great news indeed. So great, I decided that a council must be held. In recent years the number of active keyblade wielders have diminished somewhat. Of all the Masters living further a field that I know of, only three have answered my call and will be arriving within the week. They live far away, even with the Lanes Between to traverse by, so they will not stay for very long."

"How many did you try to contact?" Mickey piped up.

"Five, in total. Master Kaoru has three apprentices of his own who will be accompanying him. Master Solomon died several years ago now, but I know his own students set off to explore the worlds themselves after they became Masters, and I have only managed to contact one of them. Master Jondalar had been in touch." Yen Sid nodded to Aqua and Terra. "I believe you have met him, once long ago. He was Master Samuel's student, many years ago now. I fear Master Frebec may be lost to us, I have not heard from him in over ten years and have singularly failed to locate him or his student." He gave them all a grave look. "It is fortunate then, that here we have such budding promise in abundance. The wielders of the keyblade were once far more numerous than they are now, and my hope is that through this meeting we can not only discuss the matter of the Keyblade Dragon, but also pool and share our knowledge with our comrades from further a field. It is of the utmost importance, now more than ever, that we rebuild the community of the keyblade wielders with a firm foundation of understanding, and no secrets hidden from each other. In the past, this was almost the undoing of everything the Warriors of Light over the centuries have fought to protect. It is therefore imperative that this council be conducted, and with a sense of neutrality."

"Huh?" Sora asked blankly, before exchanging looks with Riku and Ven. "Why neutral?"

"Well, now that Aqua has the title High Master, it may put a few backs up." Yen Sid said with an amused smile. "Especially since the one who answers to the dragon is her student. Normally, the council would have been held here, but I think in the interests of diplomacy we should choose another location."

"Hey, how about Disney Castle?" Mickey offered. "It's a world of Light, the heartless won't be much of a bother to us there, and it's not a world of the Keyblade wielders so it would be unbiased."

"Thank you, Mickey. That saves me from yet another headache." He then turned to Ansem and said, "I would be greatly honoured if you would attend the council as well."

"The honour would be mine," Ansem bowed his head. "But I do not see what I can bring to the proceedings."

"You _have _been adding to Aqua's notes about Leo." Kyo said suddenly. "And doing his health check ups. I'm sure the other Masters'll wanna hear about that too, cause its really important as well as all the keyblading stuff."

"Then it would appear that it is settled," Ansem chuckled, patting Kyo's head and the boy grinned at him in response.

"Aqua," Yen Sid said, turning to her. "By right, you are in charge of all the students here, but I think it would be best in the interests of remaining impartial that they come in groups."

"All right," Aqua nodded. That sounded fair. "Pick your groups, guys."

Sora and Kairi flung their arms around Riku, tipping him over with a yelp as Ven dragged himself to his feet and stumbled over to the sofa. Mel perched herself on the arm as Ven landed with a thud beside Aqua. Leo walked over, picking up his feet as he went and settled gracefully behind the sofa, his long neck holding his head proudly aloft so he was in plain view for all to see.

Lea sighed and went to sit beside the bundle on top of Riku. "No offence Aqua, but I reckon there should be at least one responsible adult in this group."

"Point taken," Aqua said, swatting at Terra and Ven as they both giggled at Riku's expense. "I'm happy with this arrangement."

"What exactly do you do at a council meeting, anyway?" Ven asked, flicking Aqua's ear in retaliation but genuinely curious of the topic.

"You sit around and talk about stuff." Terra said, slowly sitting up straighter and yawning widely, smiling at Aqua's withering look.

"I must confess, I am still at a loss as to what the implications of Leo's arrival truly are." Yen Sid admitted. "And as such, I felt it necessary to call forth as many Keyblade wielders as I could muster. Admittedly there are fewer than I would have liked, but still our ranks have grown in recent times, and that too is cause for celebration."

With his piece finished, everyone started talking to each other and milling around, discussing the impending visitation from yet _more_ keyblade wielders. Sora as excited by the thought, and no one even tried to pin him down this time; Ven was chatting away Lea about the Master's mentioned by Yen Sid, and who he remembered Master Eraqus telling him about – Ven had lived an admittedly sheltered life with them, kept from others and the outside worlds, so he had less experience with these people. Well, Aqua had little more, really. Only Solomon and Samuel were familiar, and held any meaning to her.

"Hey, wasn't Jondalar that boy who visited that one time?" Terra asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Aqua was torn from her musings.

"The guy with the green hair? Remember, when we were ten? I took his scarf and tied it to the top of the tallest tree and Master Eraqus got really mad and grounded me for a month."

"Oh yeah!" Aqua suddenly remembered the incident. "And he kept insisting we call him Jono." She giggled when she remembered the look the Master had given Terra when he found out exactly why he had come home late, and covered in bark and grass stains. He'd missed a highly anticipated hike into the mountains while he served his time. "Why did you do it, anyway?" she couldn't remember.

"He kept on trying to hug you and touch you when we were working, and using all those cheesy pick up lines _no one_ ever uses. Don't you remember?"

Aqua frowned as she tried to recall it. All she remembered was a boy with bright green hair, and the scarf waving limply from the top of that tall tree. "No?"

Terra raised an eyebrow. "And he tried to kiss you when you told him to buzz off? And I snuck off with his scarf cause I thought it'd distract him from you for a bit?"

Aqua shook her head, eyes fixed on Terra's. "Nope."

"Not ringing a bell?" he seemed surprised. "Not even when we were sparring and I smacked him upside the head so he fell into the pond?"

"Now that I _do_ remember," she smiled slyly. "Something like…" she raised her arms and waved them in a parody of anger and affected a tone that vaguely resembled Terra's voice when he was younger, "_No one calls her that but me!_"

"I didn't say that!" he snapped, cheeks stained red.

Ven saw this, and grinned wickedly. "Oh, lusting after her when you were ten, were we? You sick perv!"

"Hey Ven, I have a friend I'd like you to meet," Terra said, eyes flashing as he pushed Aqua out of the way so he could reach him. "My fist!"

Mel yelped and dived out of the way as the two of them wrestled with each other, and Aqua slid neatly onto the floor, sighing deeply and glowering at the newly pronounced Masters. Their resemblance to children was uncanny…

Eventually her patience snapped and Aqua stood up, filled her lungs and bellowed at them, "Oh just knock it off already!" and they grudgingly relinquished their grip on each other before sitting and fuming in silence. "Honestly!" she hissed, arms folded as she sat in between them, eyes blazing.

"He started it." Terra muttered.

"You hit me first." Ven spat back.

"_Enough_." Aqua snapped.

The rest of the evening passed with less consequence, and they decided by mutual consensus to iron out details tomorrow before Aqua chased everyone off up to bed as they began to once again slowly capsize. The following morning Terra was still a bit sleepy and slow to get started, but Sora and Ven were fully back on form – with a vengeance. Breakfast was barely even over when they and Riku started wrestling each other, and Aqua shooed them out of the kitchen before something got damaged.

Then she had to call the boys back and relay the important knowledge Master Eraqus had once given her. Really, with so many of them around it was more of a formality – if anything _did_ happen to Aqua, there were enough people around to keep the peace of that world without having to resort to such drastic measures. Although having said that, she knew how things could take an unpredictable and devastating turn for the worse; the old phrase 'better safe than sorry' was most applicable. After sharing this information with the boys, and Riku as well who had yet to hear it for himself, she set them loose so she could make plans for this council they would be attending.

By the time Aqua had fixed details with Yen Sid and Mickey, the boys had started squabbling yet again taken their fight outside and were now wreaking havoc upon the courtyard, with Leo in tow. Terra was spread eagled on the stairs leading to the door of the castle, and Mel was sat cross-legged just above him with a large crystal perched in her hands, eyes closed and humming under her breath while her brother snuggled up against her side, his head in her lap. Aqua stood on the threshold, looking down on the rabble that was still her responsibility; Lea ran into the fray and Ven dived to miss his blow, then laughed as Leo swept the man aside with a powerful stroke of his tail, roaring in his defence. It was almost funny, the contrast they made; the four young men and the dragon gambling around each other, and then the group assembled on the stairs – so calm and tranquil despite the racket going on. When Kairi appeared, Aqua thought she would roll her eyes and complain about them, but she surprised her by grinning and running head long into crowd.

_High_ Master.

That was…a bit much for her to get her head around. Really, she had only ever pushed herself in her training in an attempt to surpass Terra because she knew how much it infuriated him to come second in anything. That, and the fact that she had violently rejected his early attempts when they were kids to 'protect' her, proclaiming that she didn't need protecting at all, had been the catalyst that fuelled their antagonistic childhood relationship. But really, it had never really mattered to her too much who was better or of higher status. Aqua had been looking forward to being on an even footing with Terra, finally being equals. Of course, she understood the great honour Yen Sid had bestowed upon her, but still…why _her_?

The question still buzzed in her head even after everyone left, and they started preparations for this council they would he attending the following week. Aqua barely noticed the strict instructions Leo was receiving about his behaviour, or the fact that Terra and Ven spent a laboriously long time cleaning and mending any damage to their armour until they practically shone like the sun. When asked, she was vague with her answers, and knew she couldn't get away with it for really long. From the looks Ven was giving her, she reckoned it was only a matter of time before he tried to force it out of her. Terra kept watching her closely with concern, turning aside whenever she looked at him directly to avoid her gaze, but they both knew she was well aware of his vigil.

When the time came, a couple of days before the meeting was due to take place, Terra finally broached the subject and asked her what was bothering her. Aqua managed to smile with sincerity as she gazed up at his face, noting along with his look of worry and concern that his hair was getting somewhat ridiculously long.

"You need a hair cut," she said, taking a handful of his soft brown hair and tugging playfully, side stepping his question.

"That's not what I- what?" he blinked in surprise at the unexpected turn in conversation.

"It's getting too long." She said letting her fingers run through his thick, messy locks and smiling indulgently.

"So?" he said defensively, cheeks flushing. Master Eraqus had always cut his hair so that it didn't fall much further than his collar. Any longer than that and the scissors came out automatically – he had no say in the matter at the time, and Terra had just accepted the set length and kept it that way. Recently, however, they had all had far more pressing matters on their minds than haircuts.

"I think you should cut it."

"I think you should mind your own business." He snapped at her reflexively.

"She's the High Master!" Ven chimed from the door to the library. "You gotta do as she says!"

Terra turned on him and Ven danced out of the room, giggling. He snarled with frustration – possibly because he was no closer to solving the problem of Aqua's despondency. It almost made her feel guilty to be evading it like this – she just…didn't want him to feel guilty, or like he had to do something about it. It was _her_ problem, after all.

"Terra," she said fondly, flicking a lock of hair from his eyes.

He glared at her. "It's not like _your_ hair hasn't grown too." He muttered mutinously. "I don't have to do what you tell me to!"

Aqua raised her eyebrows innocently. Much as part of her was trying to reject the position of continued authority over her friends who were now finally Masters in their own right, she couldn't help but use it to tease him. Terra didn't exactly make it hard for her to do so…

"Don't you?"

"No I don't!"

"But I thought this was _my_ castle." She said slyly.

Terra glowered at her. "So?"

"My castle," she raised her hands and gestured at the walls of the library. "My rules."

"Whatever!" he stalked off and buried himself amongst the shelves in the corner.

Aqua waited for a moment before following him. It was fun winding him up, but she didn't want to upset him, and even if she wanted to avoid his questions, he truly cared about how she was feeling. She snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself against the curve of his back.

"What do you want?" he snapped, resisting her.

"You know I'm High Master?" she asked softly, being as lovey-dovey and snuggly as she could.

Terra took a deep breath, and she imagined his eyes were closed. "Yes?"

"And that means if you stay here with me, you have to do what I say?"

"What do you want from me, Aqua?" he sighed, raising his hands to rub his temples, refusing to verbally give in to her.

"Kiss me."

Aqua felt him shift, and she stepped back to give him room to move freely. His expression was torn between annoyance, amusement, and affection.

"You're weird," he told her gently, arms winding themselves around her waist. "I give you the cold shoulder, and you come crawling back to me."

"I know, weird isn't it? You'd think I'd dump you every time you say something horrible to me," she teased him, keeping her lips just out of his reach even when he bent his head towards her.

"You don't make it easy to be nice to you, you know." He smirked at her and she smiled innocently back. "And no matter what I do I can't seem to get rid of you."

"Oh, so that's why you're so obnoxious and cruel to me, is it?"

"And you just can't get enough of it," he chuckled when she dodged out of his way again, and slowly backed her up against the opposite bookshelf.

"Mmm, maybe I'm just…" she murmured, fluttering her eyes for dramatic effect before reaching up to brush her lips against his ear. "_Masochistic_." She was just trying to mess him around when she gave his ear lobe a playful nip, just to annoy or fluster him. She didn't expect his sharp intake of breath, or to be pressed hard against the shelves behind her. Maybe Aqua should have seen it coming – Terra was getting…more forceful with his displays of affection, especially when they were alone. She should see it coming by now, but it still took her by surprise, even if she was willing to reciprocate.

"Hey, Aqua!" Ven yelled, running into the library.

Aqua opened her eyes slowly, looking up at Terra's exasperated expression, breathing just a little too heavily as was she. He was still stood over her, pressing her against the books, one arm raised and leaning against the shelves above her head for support.

"Aqua-! Oh gees!"

She grudgingly turned her gaze from Terra to look at Ven, arm thrown dramatically across his face and scowling. "What do you want, Ventus?" she snapped.

"Mel and I are going to visit Sora. He wanted to talk to us about something. Can you baby-sit Leo while we're gone? Great, thanks!"

"Wait a sec," Terra began, but Ven was already turning on his heels.

"He's in the great hall playing with gummi blocks. You two can go back to having sex again, just pretend I wasn't here. Bye!" and with that he was gone, and so was the mood.

"Argh!" Aqua groaned, running her fingers through her hair, and stopped when she realised that it had indeed grown, longer than she would have really liked it to be.

Terra mumbled something about a book he was supposed to be looking for, and hurried off, his cheeks stained pink with mortification. Aqua sighed and went to find Leo, sat happily in the middle of the hall and gnawing on a satisfyingly large gummi block that was covered in honey. Before leaving, Kyo had taken his tape measure and with Aqua taken the length of his body and wings down. They could now officially call him adolescent, and it seemed he might reach physical maturity by the end of the coming summer, when he would be about a year old.

"We can't call you our baby for much longer," she cooed, stroking his neck lovingly.

Leo licked her face in response. He had moments when he sat still, aloof and serious – then Sora or Ven, or even Kyo would wave something exciting and shiny at him, and he was back to playing like an unruly puppy. Sitting through this council was going to be difficult for him; he was one great big bundle of energy that couldn't sit still for long. It was a bit odd how in just a few short months he had wormed his way into their lives, as if he had always been there. Aqua couldn't imagine what life would be like without him, except most probably quieter.

"Oh Leo," she said, burying her face in his soft feathered pelt. "I don't know what to do." She had to fight down the sudden urge to cry. "I've never been that good at leading. And I never wanted to be higher than my friends – I just wanted us all to be Masters together…I wish the Master was here, he always knew what to do…"

Leo couldn't articulate well verbally, but his actions were somewhat louder than any words he may have used. He enfolded her into his embrace, covering her with his wings and running his teeth through her hair. It reminded her vividly of her Master – he used to hold her and stroke her hair when she was upset, whatever it happened to be. Although, he hadn't had two massive wings and a long thick tail to cuddle her up in.

It made Aqua smile, and Leo licked her cheek again, chirruping in a deep voice.

XOXOX

"Riku!" Ven shouted, waving his arms and trying to get the boy's attention.

Riku saw them, grinned and waved them over. They were on the main island, looking for Sora who was the one that had summoned them in the first place. Riku was seated on a low wall by the beach; a garden was behind him with a cosy looking house nestled in an exquisite rose garden. Ven had never visited them on Destiny Island, not on the main island at any rate, so he was fascinated with the architecture and structure, so different again from anything else he knew.

"Hey guys, Sora send for you?"

"Yeah. Where is he, anyway?" Ven asked, taking a comfortable stance with his hands behind his head.

"Keeping Kairi busy." Riku said, checking to make sure they weren't being over heard.

"How come?" Mel asked, perching herself beside Riku on the wall.

Riku smirked. "Kairi's birthday's coming up. And she said specifically she doesn't want a massive party. So, Sora and I were thinking of something small – just us. But that doesn't mean Kairi can get out of having presents. We thought we'd better give you the heads up, but we still want it to be sort of a surprise for her, so we had to get Kairi out of the way before you arrived. She's convinced I'm up to something, so it's down to Sora to keep her occupied while we scheme. She'd believe anything that goof ball says, and he's actually pretty good at lying when it occurs to him to do so."

Ven sniggered and exchanged smiles with Mel. He started when someone called to Riku, and to his amazement the boy blushed and tried to hide behind Ven, before waving shyly at a group of youngsters down on the beach.

"Riku!" one girl with caramel coloured hair in a bright yellow dress yelled. "Where's Sora and Kairi! We're gonna for ice creams later!"

"Dunno," he called back, squirming with discomfort.

"What's with you?" Ven asked, astonished. Riku was always for the most part calm and collected, unless he and Sora were bickering in which case he just got mad. It seemed odd, but it had really never occurred to Ven that Riku was capable of blushing quite like that.

Mel watched the group meandering along, and she seemed to be singling one of them out for her full attention. She turned back to Riku, and in a low voice said, "Is that Leah?"

Ven tried to hide his snort of laughter, but couldn't quite. It wasn't fair to laugh, really, but Riku's reactions were just so unexpected, and funny…

"Yeah…" he said, looking at his feet, scuffing at the soil with the toe of his shoes.

"Why don't you go over and talk to her?" Ven asked. Terra and Aqua were madly head over heels for each other – they talked all the time! It wasn't that hard to talk to someone you really liked. Sora never got tongue tied around Kairi, either.

"I can't," Riku said, almost pained, looking away from them.

"Why not?" Ven let his arms fall to his side, looking from the group of teens making their way along the beach and then back to Riku. "I thought you liked her?"

"It's not that simple!" Riku snapped. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, head held despairingly in his hands. "She's nice to me and everything, but I'm always going off with Sora and fighting the heartless, or saving the worlds from something. She doesn't see me that much, and…" he shook his head, defeated. "Why should she pick me…?"

"Mmm because," Ven grinned and patted his shoulder. "You're a dashing, handsome young man with a lot to offer!"

Riku glowered at him through his thickening fringe. He probably needed a haircut before long. "Like what? Trouble follows me everywhere. Why would I wanna drag someone else into it?"

Mel put a hand on his back between his shoulder blades soothingly. "I think you should at least give it a try."

"Why?" Riku sat up and turned to her, suddenly desperate. It seemed he had been keeping these thoughts and feelings to himself for a while. Terra did that, and it usually ended up going from a molehill-sized problem to a mountain range in a short space of time. "Even if she _did_ want to be with me, I'm hardly ever here! I can't ask her to sit around and wait for me, and I can't exactly tell her about the keyblade either!"

"There are always special rules about telling people about the other worlds." Mel said softly, taking his hands and holding his gaze steadily. "If it were for her own good. But, that isn't the point here. The point is that, if you don't try, you'll never know."

Riku looked at her pleadingly. "What d'you mean?"

"Just talk to her, let her know how you feel. If she doesn't feel the same way, or if you both just aren't compatible, then it's out in the open between you and not inside festering. If it doesn't work out, of course you'll feel disappointed, or maybe even hurt, but isn't the painful knowledge better than just simply not knowing?"

Riku looked down, biting his lip. "But…I dunno…She – I mean," he scratched his neck agitatedly. "How do I even know? It's so hard to tell with girls…how do I know there's even a thing there?"

Ven sighed, and gave Riku a wan smile. He wished he had something helpful to say, but he just didn't know what he possibly add that would be of any comfort. He had no experience with girls beyond the whole 'sisterly' thing with Aqua. All he really had to go on was her relationship with Terra, which he was forever making fun of – Ven could hardly comment on any romantic situation.

"When you say a 'thing'," Mel said. "Are you referring to a crush?"

Riku's fair skin went bright red. "Yeah…a thing…" he jumped suddenly as a voice behind them blared.

"Hey Riku," the girl with the yellow dress had marched up to them with a couple of girls behind her.

"Hey Selphie." He said in a monotone, turning away from Mel to address his friend. "Wassup?"

"You seen Tidus and Wakka? We were gonna go for ice cream now. And they've disappeared too!"

"Sorry," he shrugged.

Selphie marched off again, dragging a girl with disconcerting eyes – one blue, the other green – behind her. It took a moment for Ven to realise that one of the girls hadn't followed, and was standing a little apart from them, watching them all shyly.

"Oh-! Err," Riku looked flustered. "Hi, Leah."

"Hi Riku."

Ven turned to get a good look at her. Leah was slender, maybe just a little bit taller than Kairi; she had elbow length hair, which was such a deep raven black it was distinctly blue under the natural sunlight. Her eyes were a very, _very_ pale shade of blue that was almost icy, but her gaze was full of warmth; she wore a plain white tank top under a pale grey hoody that was light weight but a bit baggy for her frame, and a dark, soft blue skirt that would have been too short if not for the three quarter length dark grey leggings she wore underneath. Leah smiled uncertainly at them, her eyes wondering over to Mel, who happened to be sat very close to Riku.

"Hello," Mel said warmly, jumping to her feet and taking the girl's hand in both of hers. "I'm Mel, and this is Ven,"

"Hiya!"

"Hello," she said, smiling warmly back.

Ven probed at the air around her and found her heart was like a wellspring of light. With her appearance and what Ven had gleaned of her personality so far aside, it was little wonder Riku was drawn to her.

"We were actually looking for Sora, but we found Riku first." Mel went on. She had that way of putting people at ease – her tones were always soft and even, and she never came across as judgemental.

"Oh," recognition dawned on Leah's face. "You're the friends from out of town Sora always talks about,"

"That's us!" Ven grinned.

"Yup." Mel nodded, sincerity ringing in her tone over the single syllable.

"Um," she bit her lip and turned to Riku. "I was wondering…a few of us are going over to Lu's house this weekend. She said I could bring some people along, and well…I was wondering if, you'd like to come?"

Riku looked genuinely distressed and torn. "I…sorry, I have to be somewhere this weekend."

Leah's face fell, and her cheeks flushed. "Oh, okay. Sorry,"

"Oh, don't be." Mel said easily. "That's our fault. We're supposed to be meeting someone, and if Riku isn't there it'll show his tutor up big time." It was amazing how she could use almost exactly the same words as Kyo might have done, but kept everything calm and conversational, and completely under control. "It would cause them a lot of trouble. So I'm afraid we're just going to have to borrow him this weekend. I really am sorry, it sounds like fun."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We were going to do karaoke and watch a movie." Leah said, smiling at Mel and warming to her.

"Well, it'll just give you an excuse to have another weekend get together, since Riku has to miss this one."

"Sorry, Leah." Riku said in a subdued voice. "I'd love to go," he seemed to realise what he'd just said, and scrabbled to regain his composure.

"Well…I was thinking, when it's Easter, I might have an end of term party." She smiled brightly, and her whole being lit up. "I remember you and Sora were so excited when you finished your Christmas tests. Maybe a movie night or something? You like _Labyrinth_, don't you?"

"Yeah," Riku laughed nervously, raising a hand to try and smooth his hair down that was blowing everywhere in a sudden gust of wind from the sea.

"Okay, I'll set a day aside."

"Yeah, and I'll keep my calendar clean."

"I'll make sure our tutor doesn't spring anything on us." Mel smiled apologetically. "It's a bit of an annoyance really, the way our schedules change without notice."

"I'm sure we can pick up the slack if Riku plays hooky for a couple a'days." Ven added with a grin.

"Well," Leah looked over her shoulder in the direction the others had gone. "I should probably get going." She smiled at Riku. "You know what Selphie's like!"

They both laughed at a shared joke that was beyond Ven and Mel. Selphie started hollering for Leah from further down the beach, and she quickly turned to follow after saying goodbye and shooting one last look at Riku.

Mel settled gracefully onto the wall beside him, and they watched her until she disappeared from sight. Then Mel raised her hand, her thumb and pinkie finger extended while the others were curled up against her palm – like an impression of a telephone. She held it to the side of her face and paused for a moment, her expression serene without a hint of irony. "Hello? Things analysis?" she said gently. "Yes I think that _was_ a thing."

Ven couldn't help himself; he had to laugh. Mel was brilliant! Even Riku laughed and loosened up a bit. He seemed happy with the way the conversation had gone, and that he had been invited to a future get together.

"Hey!" Sora appeared out of nowhere and flung his arms around Ven's neck. "Where you been at?"

"Waiting for you, goof ball!" Ven retorted with a grin.

"So," Mel said standing up and addressing all three of them. "We all know what's happening on Saturday?"

"Um," Sora smiled contritely. "Can you just run it by me one last time?"

"Meeting starts at eleven, but try to be there by half ten. There'll be food afterwards so don't eat a really heavy breakfast. Daisy's putting a lot of hard work into this and Donald won't be pleased with anyone who leaves leftovers." Mel recited perfectly, making it sound as if this was the reason for their visit. Kairi was completely clueless.

"You know Leo will have the leftovers, right?" Riku said playfully, looking much brighter then he had done when they first arrived.

Kairi giggled. "How come your face is red, Riku?"

He instantly darkened and scowled.

"Kairi!" Sora said, aghast and shaking her hands. "You said we don't talk about," he gave Riku an unintentionally dramatic look before continuing, "the _thing_!" he hissed.

Riku snarled, fists clenched. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well," Sora said carefully, looking up at the sky as he went on, ponderingly. "Kairi said I should lay off teasing you about Leah, and she just went and teased you anyway, so-" he took a step back as Riku got to his feet and advanced on him. "Okay, I know you're mad-!" he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Oh really?" Riku hissed. "Come here!"

"Yikes!" Sora dived out of the way and tried to run for it, but Riku jumped on him and grabbed him in a headlock. "Lemme go lemme go lemme go _I didn't do anything this time_!" he whined. "Let me _go_!"

Ven laughed while Kairi and Mel hung their heads in despair. Sora managed to get Riku to let him go, but had to run to keep his freedom. In the end Ven shouted at them, "Ya know, Riku! Aqua won't be happy if you bring what's left of Sora to the council in a matchbox!"

Sora threw Riku off his back and ran away, shrieking about his best friend making yet another attempt on his life. Riku sprawled on the ground, and slowly sat up on his hands and knees, wincing before he looked up and realised he had fallen right at Leah's feet. She crouched down with a concerned look, but he jumped to his feet as if he had been stung by something, face yet again flushed and staring at her in horror at what had just happened.

"And on _that_ note," Ven said, grabbing Mel by the shoulders and steering her away from Kairi. "We'll be leaving! See ya Saturday, Kairi,"

"Bye." She said listlessly, looking from Riku's chronic nervousness to Sora's ever bounding energy.

"You really are a sneak, aren't you?" Ven said playfully and giving Mel a shove as they walked away.

"I just figured Riku needed a little helping hand, and I was in a position to do so."

"So! What do you think?" Ven said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"I think she does like him. And certainly in terms of energy they are very compatible for each other. But that isn't the only thing that's important in a relationship. Personality, shared experiences, and circumstance are all very important. That's why Terra and Aqua get on so well in a stable relationship. They are like two sides of the same coin, and only they can really understand each other and what has happened to them – plus both being keyblade wielders they understand the pressure it puts them under, and forces circumstances where they are always together in close proximity."

Ven pulled a face. "Yeah, _close_." He sneered.

Mel fixed him with what for her was quite a pointed look. "Aren't you happy for them?"

"Course I am!" he was offended that she thought otherwise. "It's just I don't appreciate having to watch it whenever I walk around a corner because they might be sucking each other's faces off."

Mel pulled the same face she pulled when dealing with Kyo's antics; brow slightly creased, and mouth twisted thoughtfully as she searched for the right words. "I think they are slightly more eloquent when physically demonstrating their love than that."

Ven sighed and looked out across the waters to the peaceful island beyond. "Yeah, but doesn't it make you feel kinda awkward?"

"Should it?" she countered softly.

"Just that…well, don't you sort of wish you had someone in your life you were in love with?" he asked.

Mel's pace faltered, and a strange look came across her face. "Yes, sometimes I do. But…not just for the sake of it, you know? I'd rather wait." She lifted her chin slightly and looked up at the cloudscape on the horizon. "Everyone I've ever spoken to on the subject said 'you'll just know', and the other piece of advice is don't settle down to have children until you're absolutely certain and happy with your partner."

"You want kids?"

"One day," she smiled softly, gazing into the distance. "I know they grow up eventually and don't stay that way forever, but I just love the idea of a little baby of my own to cuddle."

"Hey Mel…" he was treading on thin ice, but Ven's curiosity got the better of him. "Have you ever thought you might be in love before?"

Mel's expression went somewhat smooth and unreadable. "Once." She said in a voice that was impossible to gauge.

"What happened?" Ven asked quietly.

"Not very much, but at the same time quite a lot. I decided to bow out with as much grace as I could, but whenever I told anyone about it they all agreed I should have punched him."

"Sounds like a douche bag." Ven said disparagingly, wondering what this person looked like, and mentally added a black eye to the picture.

"Hmm," she said noncommittally. "It taught me a very important lesson, however, and even if I regret those memories I have from time to time, it still set me on a path that was to my greatest benefit. In fact," she smiled suddenly, a brilliant smile that lit up not just her being but the whole area around her. "I wouldn't have met the man who gave me Leo's egg. I guess in a way I should thank that guy,"

Ven scoffed. "You're the one who took the initiative, you don't owe him anything."

"Mmm."

"C'mon, cheer up!" As interesting as an insight into her past as it had been, Ven hated seeing her upset and gloomy, and he felt sorry for bringing it up. "You got us now, and Leo too! It's obvious you were too good for him. You always tell us everything happens for a reason right? You're such a nice person, and an awesome friend; any guy would be lucky to have your favour. Bet he's been kicking himself since."

Mel raised a single eyebrow, and gave him sceptical look. "Doubt it." She said quietly.

"Please cheer up?" Ven begged, gently shaking her shoulders. "I'm sorry I brought it up. Just forget I said anything,"

"No," she closed her eyes, raising her hands and shaking her head. "No, it's fine. I just…well," she smiled somewhat sheepishly. "You know when you mind plays things over and over, and in hindsight you think of all the clever, witty things you could have said, or all the things you could have done differently to minimise the damage? Or perhaps I just over think these things."

Ven gave her an affectionate squeeze. "You and me both. Hey, c'mon! I think there was some of Aqua's cookies left over from yesterday,"

"Leo's probably got his nose in them by now…" Mel sighed, letting him drag the conversation away. "Aqua's baking a lot more now, I've noticed."

"Nope. She used to be like that all the time! I remember, Master Eraqus used to fight with Terra all the time because he doesn't have a sweet tooth like the rest of us. It was so funny! I think since we've come back home and settled in again, and gotten used to Leo being around, she's trying to start again. Terra used to help cook the meals with the Master, and then Aqua made desert, and she always had something for us when we finished training. I guess being a Master means you have less time for that sort of thing…" he mused to himself as they left the little village behind and got ready to depart. "And Terra used to always sit round in the evenings carving wood. He used to be really good at it, too."

"Wood carving?" Mel's interest was piqued. "I used to do that sometimes. I was much better at painting and decorating than actually carving figures, though."

"Huh," Ven looked out over the sea through his helmet, hefting his keyblade over his shoulder in preparation to summon his glider. "I think he should start doing it more often. He used to go off and start carving something when he got mad or upset over something, and he always seemed to calm down a lot afterwards." His musing was met by silence. "Mel?" he turned to find her stuffing a couple of hunks of deep, red coloured wood into her satchel from a pile on the ground. "Wassup?"

"As my dear sweet brother would say," she said, rearranging the strap of her satchel and touching her left shoulder to summon her own armour. "Being a shaman, and stuff."

Ven laughed. "C'mon, let's go home. If Leo hasn't destroyed it already,"

"You have no faith in his abilities." Mel accused calmly as she climbed onto the glider behind him and put her arms around his waist.

"I have faith in his ability to destroy the castle." Ven said happily.

Mel flicked his ear, the metal armour making an unpleasant clanging. "I'll defend my baby to the hilt." She said placidly. Despite her calm demeanour, Ven had no doubt she'd fight tooth and nail for Leo if the occasion arose.

"Some baby," Ven couldn't stop himself laughing. "He's nearly an adult now, you can't say that sort of thing about him anymore!"

"He's my dragon, I can say what I like," Mel said simply, and he could imagine the smile on her face.

"Heh," Ven shook his head, grinning before he raised it up high and glanced over his shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yup."

"Going up!"

XOXOX

Tomasa was idly playing with a pen and a pad of paper. It was a while before he realised he had been doodling a sketch of the back garden at his old home. Annoyed, he scrunched it up and hurled it at the bin by the door of the study, but it fell short of the mark. Anger rising, he stalked over and picked it up before ripping it to shreds and dumping it squarely over the top of the bin where he couldn't miss. Slightly mollified, he went back to sit down again and muse idly while he waited.

Pete was doing some recon, and Maleficent was brooding on something – it may or may not bode well. Tomasa wanted to distract himself from the fact that it was Kyo's birthday soon. In their world, twenty-one was a big deal, and he had wanted to do something special for him. Of course, that was all up the spout now…

Maleficent swept into the room, and he sat up straighter, but she waved a hand at him. "I cannot stay long today, I am afraid. I have a visitor to attend to. I'm sorry, Tomasa," she said in a silkily smooth voice.

"That's all right," he said, trying to keep his tone even. He had been hoping to be set another task today – he needed something practical to get his mind off of things. Spell weaving and casting was quite difficult, and even if he questioned the morals and motives behind them, the technical challenge of the assignment never failed to keep him fully absorbed on the task.

"Here, I would like you to have this," she held out a heavy sphere hewn from some type of rock and polished to a fine, smooth finish. "It will help you with your spell casting. Now, I must be off. Pete should not be long, and then we can start discussing our plans."

Tomasa carefully rolled the ball from one palm to the other. It looked vaguely like the orb in her staff, but it was very different…it felt almost warm to the touch, and it didn't have the stale, dank feeling of chronic gloom that most things he had been toying with recently had. What had his grandfather said about stones again? Kyo would know. He knew every damn story off by heart. Would Mel have known as well? Probably. She always loved stones and crystals and all that new age crap – he couldn't really be bothered with it.

Something caught his eye, right at the edge of his vision. A person in a long, sweeping coat with a heavy hood, and they were carrying a _keyblade_.

Tomasa got to his feet and edged towards the door, watching from behind the frame as the person walked down the corridor behind Maleficent. The coat wasn't a proper Black Coat – it was a very dark brown, _almost_,but not _quite _black, and it had a huge hood that would have shrouded the face completely in shadow. It looked like one of Kyo's Jedi Masters; he half expected the weapon in the person's hand to be a light sabre. But it was definitely a keyblade – Tomasa would know one anywhere, since he'd grown up with two of its wielders.

It didn't _look_ like a key, though. He remembered dimly his grandfather's blade, and Mel's, and the other wielders she had ended up living with; they were all very different, coloured and engraved with different patterns, comprised of different shapes – but all fashioned in the semblance of a key.

This one looked more like a torture weapon from that tower museum his friend from school had persuaded him to visit. Horrible, black with lethal, wicked looking spikes protruding from a dull coloured grey stem, some of them tipped with nasty looking stains that could have been intentional decorations or could have been dried blood.

_How_ had Tomasa thought it was a keyblade? He didn't agree with much his grandfather had said, but the Keyblade was a weapon of the Light – a force for good. Nothing that was meant to be for the greater good of the worlds could look so…_horrifying_.

The figure turned its head to look over its shoulder at him, and Tomasa ducked out of the way, heart hammering in his chest as a sudden and ghastly feeling descended upon him.

"Oh, that is just my apprentice. Pay the boy no mind. He has a curious heart. I think he will serve well." Maleficent could be heard saying as they continued walking.

Tomasa gulped for air as a terrible cold and clammy sensation took over him. He sank to the floor, his knees giving out, and then a horrible thought struck him – one that made him cover his head with his heads, clamping down tightly over his ears.

Oh God…what was he _doing_ here?

His mind gave in – his heart had been right from the start. _Mel_ had been right.

He had to get out of here, somehow, back to his cousins. Even if they didn't forgive him, Mel would still take him in. She had always been kind like that. Whatever it would take to beg her forgiveness, he'd pay the price. He just wanted out of this place. Whatever cataracts that had been clouding his inner vision fell away and he saw in that cold and lonely castle in a new and stark light.

What was he going to do?

Tomasa just acted on impulse, and ran for it; through the winding passages and to the hallway that opened onto a courtyard with scraggly looking plants growing in the cracks. He just ran – all he had ever done in his life, something he knew would temporarily work.

Something cracked hard across his back, and then his collarbone as his body reeled in pain; the something smacked him squarely in the face, and he crumpled to the ground, something unpleasantly warm trickling down his nose.

"Enough!" Maleficent said in a loud and commanding voice.

When Tomasa slowly sat up, he as aghast to see that lethal looking keyblade of black spikes aimed at his heart, the one wielding it shrouded in more than just a shadowy cloak. Not for the first time in his life, he feared for his life – only this time it was just his neck on the line, not Kyo's as well. He had never realised how sick with freight he really was the thought of dying, because his little cousin had always needed him; it had provided something to fight for and drag himself back again, someone else who needed him.

"Now then, my dear," she had never sounded to menacing to him before. "What were you trying to do?"

"I-I-I-" he stammered. "I- needed some fresh air!" Mel often panicked when she was younger, and being outside always helped her calm down. "I just – sorta came over all queer for a moment. I dunno what happened." He bit his lip, hoping she would buy it.

"Come, let us get you back inside and see to those wounds. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you now, would we?"

Tomasa let her lead him in doors, his heart screaming in protest. She must have noticed a reluctance in him, but she said nothing as she healed his smarting nose and jaw, and relieved the aches and bruises across his torso. The person with the keyblade followed, and Tomasa tried not to cringe openly as he felt a flicker from them – something that completely repelled him.

"Now then," Maleficent said, a hard gleam in her eye. "I should probably tell you our plan."

Tomasa gulped. "Y-yes?"

"There is to be a council held, that will keep those wretched keyblade wielders away from their home for at least a day. I want you and Pete along with our guest to – as they say – _stake the place out_. I want to know the best way to gain entry."

"Why?" Tomasa asked defiantly, anger flaring for a moment in his utterly helpless position. But then he remembered that he had been rude and unruly before, and got away with it – he now had a façade to hide behind. He latched onto it with fervent hope.

"All in good time, my dear. For now, I'd like you to practise your spell casting for me."

Tomasa went back to the room he had run from earlier, but when he was alone he started making notes, and rolled them up as tight as he could before stuffing them into his socks, the waist band of his underwear – _anything_ that wouldn't be the first port of call for searching: i.e. his pockets. Mel was an airhead, but she certainly wasn't stupid, and she knew the routes his mind took – if he left her a clue, maybe he could give her a warning. God only knew, Kyo might even make the leap himself; he had moments of pure, abstract _genius _at times.

"Please…"

Tomasa had never been one to pray much, only for show when his school held religious ceremonies. Kyo had taken it seriously, and Mel had always been respectful while making her own prayer to he chosen version of a supreme deity. He hadn't thought much beyond being cynical, and he wasn't the only one in his world – but he prayed now, hoping desperately that whatever message he could cobble together would get through to Melody.

"_Please_…"

_Don't let them be hurt because of me…_

XOXOX

Leo sat back on his haunches, shaking his front leg and eyeing the greaves they had strapped to him. They had collectively spent a _long_ time making sure he was spotless (Aqua had gone ballistic when he sauntered outside after his first bath and rolled in the dust) and had given his armour the same dedicated attention to detail. He looked excited, keyed up for the big event as much as anyone, and Terra knew it would be hard for him to rein his happy impulses in. Luckily, Mickey had arranged a reception after the actual meeting – the exchanging of information, as Yen Sid had said – and it would be outside where Leo could run around without having to worry about avoiding people in his ramblings. It also meant Sora and Ven could run around like idiots to their hearts' content afterwards without creating a fuss.

Mel walked into the great hall, fiddling with her pouches and dragging her satchel with her. Terra was accustomed to her calm demeanour by now, and it surprised him that she looked more nervous than Aqua. She kept playing with a stray lock of hair, which she had spent a painfully long time styling and restyling that morning, never quite satisfied with the plaits she had braided. Her own armour had been given a thorough cleaning and buffed to perfection, and the feathers that hung from the braided cords from her right shoulder had been carefully brushed and smoothed in order to look less ratty. All in all, Mel looked like the personification of a perfect student – neat, tidy, and thoroughly presentable.

"Nervous?" Terra asked her as she set her satchel down beside Leo. He bent his head down to groom her hair, but Mel squeaked and side stepped out of the way, hands covering her perfect French plaits. "I'm guessing yes."

Mel gave Terra a pained look that surprised him. "I don't want to show Aqua up. This is really important…those other Masters will probably be looking very closely at her since she's been elevated to a higher rank than them, and I want to show her in as good a light as possible. That goes for you too," she said, somewhat sternly to Leo.

The dragon put his ears back like a cat, closed his eyes and keened loudly in protest.

"Be fair, he wasn't doing anything just now." Terra reasoned with her.

Mel took a deep, steadying breath, and ran her fingers through the hair that wasn't bound into meticulous braids. "Am I over reacting?" she asked, looking at her shining boots.

"Just a little," Terra gestured, grinning. "C'mon, cheer up!" he said bracingly, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"You're nervous too," she gently accused, looking up at him with wide eyes. "I can feel it."

"Well, yeah. But we don't have to freak out about it. It's a council about him," he jabbed a thumb at Leo. "Not a council of war."

Mel gave him another pained look. "That's not the way it feels most days…"

"Uh-uh!" he waved a finger in her face and grinned in a superior manner. "What did we say about negativity?" he laughed when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think Ven's right. What _does_ Aqua see in you?" she asked pleasantly, eyes sparkling with good humour.

"I'm just naturally lovable," he teased, hugging her as she laughed.

Ven skipped into the hall and bounced over to them, grinning from ear to ear. "Ready to go kick some butt?" he enthused.

"This is a mission of peace, not mindless violence." Terra said in a bored tone as Aqua walked into the hall and headed straight for them, every inch a nervous wreck in the making. "Okay?" he asked her with concern.

Aqua simply nodded. She was wearing the breastplate Yen Sid had given her, and she had also given her hair a careful trim to tidy the growing layers so it was almost to the length she used to keep it at before. Ven's hair grew incredibly slowly, so it rarely needed trimming; Terra had decided to go against tradition – and to spite Aqua for her teasing – and grow his hair as long as he possibly could, starting from now. Mel had managed to tidy up the bangs around his face, and keep the same shape and style across the top, but the rest he was going to let grow as much as he could. Aqua was handy with a pair of scissors when she needed to be, but he didn't trust her this time after his statement of intent to grow his hair, and Mel had managed to do a pretty good job on her own.

Terra trusted Aqua with his life, and his heart. The same went for Ven, but he only trusted Mel with his hair – the other two had way too many grudges against him to trust them with mundane things like haircuts.

"Are you three ready?" Aqua asked, straightening out her clothes and armour and smoothing her hair back, restless to get going.

"Yup!" Terra said.

"You betcha!" Ven beamed with his hands behind his head.

"I guess," Mel said, going somewhat pale at the thought.

"Aqua's the only one that's got to worry anyway!" Ven said loudly as they exited the hall together. "We're just her lackeys as far as the other Masters are concerned, right?"

"Hey!" that rankled Terra's pride. But Mel brought up a fact that seemed to have escaped the boys' notice.

"I'm also the Dragon's rider. I'll have to make an input to the discussion whether I want to or not."

Leo poked her in the back with his muzzle and hummed soothingly.

"It'll be fine!" Ven said happily, still skipping down the stairs as they left the castle.

"How does he always do that and _not_ look like a complete weirdo?" Terra muttered to himself darkly, and started when Aqua burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.

"Because you still think of him as our baby brother!" she giggled. "And we're used to him being weird like that. He's always been like that since he was a kid – we just never questioned it because we were still kids too."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Ven shouted at her from the courtyard, indignant.

Aqua enveloped him in a hug when she reached him, and he whined and tried to wriggle out of her clutches before he gave in.

"Ready?" Terra asked as Mel climbed into the saddle on Leo's back, running a hand over his armoured side to double check it was clean.

"Not a bit. Let's go,"

XOXOX


	16. The Council

**AN: I do apologise in the delay of this posting – it was mostly written up and everything but I took forever to reread and edit, and I don't think I netted all the errors xD I know a lot of OCs appear in this chapter, but I as yet have no further plans to include them in the future with the exception of one, so bear with me! ;)**

**I should probably say this just to clarify, and because I don't think I have actually mentioned it yet about accents; Mel's is a generic well-spoken southern English accent, and Kyo and Tomasa are similar except perhaps a little less well spoken. Rhiannon has a broad Irish accent, but she uses some of the vocab found in a northern English accent (such as endearments like 'pet' and 'flower', but spoken with an Irish accent.)**

**Anyways, any feedback you have for me is greatly appreciated, as are the favourites and follows! If you have the time please do leave me a review and let me know what you think :)**

_**The Council**_

Goofy greeted them at the castle gates, and led them inside. "Sora and the other's aren't here yet," he explained. "That there Master Kaoru and his students set up in the Audience Chamber. I think they went to the library afterwards. You guys better go on ahead, I need to find Donald,"

A few moments after he left the, Leo sat down unexpectedly and coughed loudly, before gagging. Mel was all over him like a crazed hummingbird, but it seemed he was just suffering from nerves and a build up of phlegm in his throat, which he had been trying to dislodge and made himself wretch in the process. Aqua was torn between waiting for him and going ahead to the chamber, but Mel made the decision for her.

"You go on ahead, we'll go sort Leo out," she said as Ven started to lead him back towards the courtyard. "Oh! Before I forget," she rummaged in her pouch and extracted a perfectly flat stone, with four uneven sides. It was a dark blue, shot through with a lightish-brown colour. Terra suddenly noted she was wearing small earrings of the same type of rock, in little gold teardrops. "It's sodalite. For the throat chakra, and an aid for oral communication. This piece has been really lucky for me over the years,"

Aqua was speechless for a moment before hugged her close and took the rock with gratitude, carefully slipping it into her pocket. "I'll need all the luck I can get!" she said, a little forlorn.

"Does that really work?" Ven asked Mel, wide eyed.

Mel, in her oh so typical fashion, shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It could just be a centre of your energy and intention, focused on what the object symbolises to you. Sodalite just happens to be one of the crystals associated with the chakra of communication, which makes it a good focus for the-"

"All right, all right," Ven muttered, face flushed. "I get it. Whatever you make it to be, it _will_ be…"

Aqua laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately, and Ven scowled. "We'll go on ahead. Meet us in the Audience Chamber when you three are ready. It's the room down the,"

"I know!" Ven snapped, and stalked off down the corridor without a backward glance.

Mel followed, with Leo trailing behind looking rather subdued; they had put the fear of God into him over this meeting – he was more of a nervous wreck than the rest of them. Aqua took a deep breath and let Terra take her hand and steer her towards the hall. Master Yen Sid greeted them from a long table set with eight chairs, six down the sides and one at each end. They were large, wooden seats almost like carved armchairs, like the thrones in the great hall, with thick armrests.

No one else was present at that moment, and Terra scuttled off to check on the others briefly, and to see if Sora had arrived yet. Leo and Mel were sat on the grass, apparently engaged in a claming exercise for the benefit of both of them, and Ven chased Terra away when he tried to ask questions.

Back in the Audience Chamber Terra stood off to one side, trying to calm his own nerves while Aqua hung round the head of the table talking to Yen Sid, and waited for the others to come back. He was looking over the table that had been laid out in the middle of the hall, wondering why there were so few seats if they had all been gathered together, especially another three students he had yet to meet.

The doors opened and someone new and unknown walked in; Terra looked up in vague acknowledgment, still wrapped up in his own thoughts until the new arrival made a beeline for him. He stood up straight, puffing out his chest and trying to maintain a regal air to go with his new title of Master, despite his nerves.

It was a woman, somewhat stocky in build but by no means plump – she had the look of someone who could haul her own weight, and then some, with little difficulty. She had incredibly long, ash blonde hair that had seemingly random streaks of bright red fading quickly into pink running through it, which from a distance gave the illusion of a pale and almost strawberry blonde colour. Her face was covered with a smattering of freckles, and her square jaw was framed by longer sections of hair hanging down the sides of her face that spilled out from the elaborate headwear she bore. It was like a helm made from thick tendrils of metal, wrought to resemble tree branches and creeping vines, which became thinner as it went back over her head until it tapered into wire fine links at the base of her skull, sitting over her hair and posing as no protection whatsoever in a fight, merely there for decoration. Her eyes were the most curious shade of lilac, and they were quick and intelligent, summing Terra up in a few swift glances.

She wore a strange tank top with one strap over her left shoulder, a dark brown colour accentuated by beads and shells that had been sown to the fabric in a sprawling and repeated pattern of circles with seven pointed star shapes in the middle. Down her right arm was a sleeve tattoo that took a moment for Terra to register the design – a series of stylised horses prancing in the surf, becoming part of the ocean waves as the pattern tapered to her wrist where it was obscured by a black leather glove; the top part that went over her shoulder and spilled onto her chest was a single horse's head as it reared, the muzzle and legs spread across her collar bone and arching towards her neck. On her left arm she wore a long segmented piece of armour much like the one Mel wore, copper and bronze coloured and picked out with gold in wavy tendrils, ending in an armoured glove that extended over the back of her wrist. The hand itself was enclosed in a fingerless black glove of a different design to the one on her right.

Faded green shorts that ended just below the knees hid yet another tattoo partially from view, this one looking vaguely like an otter and yet again stylised with sweeping, curvy, geometric shapes interlocking together down her left leg. The tops of thick socks were visible over the thick beige hiking boots she wore, that had clearly seen a lot of abuse and had been given some TLC before the meeting in an attempt to make them look more presentable. Apparently Sora and Mel weren't the only ones in the habit of attaching pouches and pockets; hanging from a belt around her waist was a small leather bag with a fringed flap that sat on her right hip, and a pouch made from cured animal hide that had been strapped to her left thigh.

The woman walked straight and upright with a sense of purpose, and she appraised Terra before she spoke in a clear low voice with a lilting accent that Terra had never heard before. "Hallo."

"Hello." He nodded politely, focused on making a good impression for Aqua's sake.

"I don't believe I've ever met'chuh before. What's your name?" she asked, offering her hand to shake, leaning forward slightly with polite interest.

"Terra," he said automatically, forgetting to tack on his new title as they shook hands.

"I'm Rhiannon." She said with a nod. "Technically Master, but I never bother with that sort of ting." She had an odd way of speaking; saying 'ting' instead of 'thing', but Terra could understand her well enough even if it was a bit of a surprise. As she continued to speak, he caught a few other peculiarities in her accent, and wondered where she had come from. "I spend my time as a Seeker. You're not…" still clasping his hand, she leaned forward more and peered up at him, lilac eyes narrowed. "Eraqus' boy, now, are ya?"

"Yeah," he said, slightly stunned; he hadn't been expecting that.

"I shoulda known. I met him a couple'a times, good friends with my Master; he used to come visit on occasion when I was much younger. He was a good man. I was sorry to hear what had happened to you all. I'm sure he'd be very proud to see ya now."

Terra blinked, feeling a mixture of surprise, grief and pride to have a complete stranger tell him such things about the man he had looked up to as a father.

"Thanks." He said quietly, and her silent gaze was full of understanding.

"Ahh!" They both looked up to see Master Yen Sid approaching them with Aqua. "Master Rhiannon. It is good to see you again,"

Rhiannon drew her ankles together and bent her right arm across her waist at the front, her left mirroring the motion behind her back, and she bowed deeply. "Master Yen Sid. It's good to see you again too. And an honour to be invited to this council."

"Any word from Master Kenneth or Master Evalyn?"

Rhiannon shook her head, her eyes sad. "Kenny's gone on a meditating quest and has been out of circulation for a while. I…haven't heard from Evie for four years now."

"I see." He said gravely, bowing his head. "I am sorry to hear that. I must go and speak with Mickey, if you will excuse me."

As Yen Sid left, Rhiannon turned to Aqua with interest, which was returned in kind. Terra decided to start the introduction. "This is High Master Aqua, my teacher," he said, grinning at Aqua's brief scowl. The hilarity of it would never cease to wear off, and nor would her undying ire. "_Master_, this is the Seeker Rhiannon."

"Pleasure to meet ya." She said, shaking hands. "Another one of Eraqus'?"

Aqua looked as surprised as Terra had felt, and smiled somewhat shyly at Rhiannon. "Yes. Who did you train under?"

"Master Solomon." She grinned unexpectedly, and she was suddenly full of suppressed mischief. "Rest his soul. He used to tell us about his old friend Eraqus, held him in high regard."

"Hey!" Ven called, bursting into the hall dramatically and making the door bounce on its hinges. He was followed swiftly by Mel, and finally Leo squeezing his way into the room through the comparatively narrow space.

Terra grinned at them, glad that Leo was feeling better, and then noticed the awed look on Rhiannon's face as she beheld for the first time the Dragon of the Keyblade. Leo padded behind them as they walked forward, and sat down before them, looking at the woman with just as much interest. He was on his very, _very_ best behaviour, or else – the urge to bounce and crow with delight was been reigned in to the extreme.

"So…this is the Dragon, then?" Rhiannon asked in a hushed voice.

"Yup!" Ven said with a grin, patting Leo's huge foreleg lovingly. "This is Leo!"

Aqua provided an introduction for them all, taking care to use Ven and Terra's proper titles, and making a formal claim on them as her charges. She was still a bit uneasy about her continued station above them, but Terra was happy with the arrangement, and he knew Ven didn't mind either. Mel was more than happy to accept the position of 'apprentice' to Aqua, though she had yet to go as far as to tease her about it. She probably wouldn't full stop…

Leo stretched his neck out to get a better look at the unknown woman, his nostrils flaring as he familiarised himself with her scent. Terra wondered what she thought of him; they had known Leo since he was an egg – they had been there each and every day that he had grown bigger until he was the behemoth that stood before them now. Somehow, he didn't seem so impressive in terms of height; they were more concerned with his intelligence, and his overly apparent sense of humour, and above all his behaviour. Taking a step back to look at the dragon through new yes, Terra realised just how formidable he looked, even when he was sat in a docile position.

"I take it he's well trained, then?" Rhiannon said, trying to crack a joke to mask her awe.

"He's under strict instruction to _behave_," Ven said, waving a finger at him.

Leo had been fighting to raise an eyebrow at Rhiannon for her jibe, but turned to Ven with an obvious scowl when he started on him again after he had done nothing this time. At least, _they _recognised it as a scowl – Rhiannon wasn't used to the subtle nuances of a dragon's facial expressions; she took a step back as he drew back his lips to expose his six long canines and narrowed his eyes. He didn't growl, thankfully, but his demeanour still unnerved the woman.

Ven yelped when Mel lightly smacked his arm. "I don't think Leo needs any more nagging. It's all right, boy," she said soothingly, stroking his nose. He instantly calmed down and thumped his tail against the floor, making the rafters shake and gave Mel an adoring look.

"Well I never!" Rhiannon laughed freely. "That's a sight to see, to be sure!"

"Leo's a bit nervous about today," Mel explained, scratching his favourite places around his jaw, and Aqua joined in, unable to resist. "He's really very friendly, but he gets a bit over excited sometimes."

"But you're just a big baby, aren't you?" Aqua cooed, rubbing her face in his feathered neck. Leo snorted and jerked his head away from her, eyes closed and full of assumed dignity. "You are a baby to us!" she went on, and Leo turned his back on her, huffing loudly.

Rhiannon laughed with Terra and Ven, but they were distracted by a commotion from the doorway. Sora flung himself at Leo with a shriek of delight, and Leo forgot himself for a moment and pounced on him with a roar of glee. Rhiannon looked even more stunned when the huge beast went for the boy, and her jaw dropped as she watched Leo tickling Sora with his snout against the floor, laughing deep in his chest as Sora squirmed and giggled.

"A little decorum would be greatly appreciated. Sora, Leo," Aqua said dully.

"Hey Leo!" Riku rushed over, and Leo abandoned Sora to hug him, nearly pushing the young man over before he settled down and started grooming Riku's neatly combed hair.

"Hi guys!" Sora said, sitting up and grinning, and looking somewhat windswept.

Kairi scuttled over and gave Aqua a hug, and Leo scuttled after her to give her a loving kiss in greeting. She giggled and hugged him tightly, and Leo started banging his tail against the floor again, making Sora trip as Ven helped him to his feet.

Terra introduced them to Rhiannon while Leo let them fuss over him. Terra reflected that he was probably a lot more settled, now that he was surrounded by familiar faces who knew how to keep him calm. The Seeker seemed keenly interested in Sora, who seemed to be as ever taking everything in stride, completely unfazed by the whole event. Riku was suffering from nerves, and kept getting short with everyone until Mel put a hand on his shoulder with a meaningful look, and he seemed to mellow a bit.

The doors burst open again, and they all turned to see who had arrived. Rhiannon barely hid her scowl as the new comer strode forth with very conscious self-confidence. He was a man, about the same age as Terra, and the flash of deep green hair brought back a lot of memories. All Terra really remembered was that this guy as a child had tried to hit on Aqua, and he'd retaliated in her defence since she didn't want to upset Master Eraqus – so he'd gone right ahead and done it for her, and got into loads of trouble for it in the meantime. Would he remember Terra's childish pranks?

"Greetings, friends!" Master Jondalar said loudly, removing his wide brimmed tan coloured hat with a flourish and bowing low like a courtier. His jeans were impeccably clean and smart, and his casual dress shirt was a perfect shade of blue that complemented his hair, under a dark leather jacket with the crest of a keyblade wielder on the breast pocket; his feet were encased in overly shiny shoes, and he brought with him a cloud of scent that smelled vaguely familiar. When he came back up from his bow, he placed his hat back on his head and studied them all intently with a genial smile, flashing dimples.

"Hi!" Sora raised a hand and waved at him with his usual welcoming grin. Riku folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, while Kairi tried to contain her laughter as Aqua gave her a warning look.

Mel and Ven exchanged glances, eyebrows raised, and Leo took a step back from the smell that invaded his nostrils, trying not to cough.

"Hallo, Jondalar." Rhiannon said in a tone that was impossible to read into.

"Rhi!" he exclaimed, taking her hand before enveloping her in a hug. "It's been so long! You haven't changed one bit!"

"Crow's feet getting deeper," she said with a light laugh and took a step back once she was released.

"No Evie and Kenny, then?"

"Apparently not," she said, tone passive but her eyes hard. It seemed she was more upset by their absence then she was willing to let on.

"But you must introduce me to your friends!" Jondalar said, feigning amazement when he turned to see the congregation – then he really looked at Leo, who had crouched down to give an illusion of lesser height, and words failed him.

"Jondalar," Rhiannon said with a superior smirk. "May I introduce you to High Master Aqua; Masters Terra, Ventus, Riku and Sora, and their apprentices Melody and Kairi. And to the Dragon of the Keyblade, Leo."

Leo looked just about ready to bolt, but they all laid a soothing hand on him, and he attempted to settle down again. Jondalar shook each man by the man, and kissed each girl's hand. He also gave Aqua an overly friendly hug and exclaimed loudly, "But we were just children when I last saw you! How have you been? I heard about all the business you got mixed up in,"

Terra felt a real flash of annoyance at the casual way he spoke of their ordeal, but he brought it under control. It surprised him when Leo growled, long, low and deep in his throat, but Mel put a hand on his nose and said, "Sssh." He grunted defiantly, but closed his eyes and made no further input to the discussion.

"It's good to see you again," Aqua said sincerely, looking somewhat frazzled.

"And how have you been?" Rhiannon put in, pulling his attention away from Aqua. "Last I heard you were off t'find an apprentice of your own. Any luck with that, pet?"

Aqua sidled away from Jondalar as he started a conversation with Rhiannon, and she fell into the ranks of her friends who provided a shield around her.

There was nothing wrong, or dark, about Jondalar – he was just a flamboyant idiot, and a show off, and a _thorn in his side_. Terra scowled until he felt a dig in his ribs, and looked up startled to find Mel giving him a meaningful look.

"Calm down." She said evenly.

Nothing got past her, did it? He gave her a weak smile, and she said no more on the subject.

"Hey, guys?" Sora said, wondering over to the table. "How're we all going to fit?"

"Huh?" Riku asked distractedly as he rubbed Leo's neck down.

"Seats!" Sora pointed at them. "Not enough of'em!"

"Oh, don't you know? Apprentices very rarely attend council meetings." Jondalar said in a helpful tone, not at all helpfully.

"What?" Aqua said, aghast. Clearly she had missed the memo.

"Oh," Kairi's face fell. "Does that mean we have to go?"

"No!" Aqua said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I say you can stay,"

Jondalar tutted, shaking his head and Terra felt the familiar rush of annoyance towards him. Oh yeah, _this_ was why he had taken delight in tormenting the douche bag so much. He had thought in the intervening years down the line it was just for Aqua that he had retaliated – but the intense feelings of irritation were too familiar to be new; even without Aqua, he would have stolen that scarf and tied it to the damn tree. Terra sighed when Mel poked him in the ribs again, but didn't look at her.

"Don't you know? Master Kaoru obviously set this up. He does everything by the book, and the book states that unless otherwise specified by the Masters, students are not allowed to be present when the council is in session. I'm afraid that means you'll all have to go,"

"But," Sora looked put out. "I'm a Master! So's Terra and Ven,"

Jondalar's eyebrows disappeared under his hairline. "Really? Why wasn't Master Kaoru told about this?!"

"Because the exam only happened last week." Sora explained. "But, Kairi and Mel can stay, right?"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jondalar shook his head sadly, and Terra bit back a retort he was dying to hurl at the man. "You'd have to defer to your Master for that."

"Riku?" Kairi said imploringly.

Riku rolled his eyes and motioned to her. "C'mon. You'd kill me if I let you miss the action," he grinned as the three of them set off together.

"Master?" Mel said to Aqua politely.

Aqua's cheeks went bright red. "Don't call me that," she muttered. "Come on,"

"I hope you'll forgive me, but you do seem a little old to be Aqua's student." Jondalar said pleasantly.

Mel slid something into Terra's hand, and he clutched at the small round pebble that exuded a surprisingly soothing sensation. "I'm just a bit younger than Master Ven." She said. "But my training has been quite disrupted over the years. Master Aqua is helping me fill the gaps in my knowledge."

"So, like a mature student at a university," he said thoughtfully. Then he turned his gaze to Ven, stood beside Leo. "Ah! And you must be that little stray puppy Eraqus took in! You're a lot taller than I thought you'd be,"

Terra was shocked, but not as much as Ven, though he recovered quickly and snapped, "What'd you say?!"

Before anyone else could even move Rhiannon clouted the man round the back of the head, and with a sudden flash on intuition Terra realised that, like him she had a temper that didn't like being forced to keep quiet. Apparently, he either respected or feared her to the extent that he would let her get away with something like that.

"Show some respect you moron!" she said loudly, in a voice that rang with clear authority. "And a little humility wouldn't go a miss, neither! Now do us all a favour and keep your trap shut before ya _really_ put your foot in it this time. All right, flower?" she shunted him over to a seat and sat him down forcefully before she went to find one of her own, purposefully and openly putting as much distance between Jondalar and Aqua's group as she could.

XOXOX

Taking a deep breath, Aqua finally sank into the seat she had been allocated by the others. Without any more seats to accommodate her friends, Ven and Terra had perched on the sturdy arms of her chair, and Terra braced his foot against Leo's side so Mel could sit on his knee. Opposite, at the other end of the table was, Riku and his two friends, also perched on the arms of the chair; Riku looked on edge, but Sora's amiable mood was slowly calming him down. Kairi had first been excited, and then became increasingly bored as they waited. Ansem was seated at the end of the table, directly opposite Yen Sid at the other end – at least he would be when the magician arrived. Kyo had been made to sit still in a similar manner to the other apprentices, but he was keyed up with impatient energy and kept trying to catch his sister's eye. When he finally did Mel shook her head twice and tapped a finger against the crease of her left elbow, which seemed to signal him to become reluctantly still.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" Ven muttered under his breath.

Aqua gave him a dig in the ribs. "Sssh!"

Leo grunted, and shifted his position, watching Lea stride over to Riku's chair and lean against its back, apparently he and Jondalar sizing each other up silently.

At approaching the set time, the doors once again opened and in walked Mickey, and a tall, muscular man who was ageing with dignity – his face was lined with experience, and his thick head of dark hair had a badger streak of white running through it. This had to be Master Kaoru; he wore long sweeping robes in varying shades of grey, accentuated with gold thread. He was followed by a young man with sun darkened skin, and long black hair that had been carefully braided into a long double looped queue, and wearing clothes of a similar style to Master Kaoru, though it was less flowing and ended just below his waist so his thick leggings were clearly visible, and all in different shades of brown.

They were followed by Donald and Goofy, who led Master Yen Sid to the table to take their seats. Master Kaoru raised an eyebrow at the congregation, skimming over Leo somewhat dispassionately considering the implications of his existence.

"High Master Aqua, I presume?" he had a deep, steady voice that incited a tranquil calm with his words, and despite his apparently austere nature, Aqua warmed to him.

"I am," she said, standing up and bowing respectfully to the man who by all rights should have been her superior.

"It is customary to only have your foremost student present at such a council. Do you wish your students to remain for the duration?"

It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did she shook her head. "I have one apprentice. Ventus and Terra recently became Masters and are no longer my students." She could have killed Ven when he raised his hand with a pronounced motion; face turned slightly aside, he paused with his eyes cast in her direction, and then coughed loudly.

Master Kaoru regarded them closely, giving nothing away before he turned to Riku. "And you, sir?"

"Huh?" Riku jumped in alarm.

"I'm not his student either," Sora blurted out, jabbing a thumb at his friend. "Should I just-?" he said, getting up and starting for the door.

Riku leaned his head into his hand and sighed. "Get back here, Sora."

"Okay," he plonked himself down again.

"Guess this means for today I'm _your_ responsibility," Lea grinned wickedly, and Riku sighed again.

"God help him…" Mel murmured unexpectedly, and Terra sniggered.

"Shut up!" Aqua hissed as quietly as she could.

"Miguel." Kaoru said to the young man beside him, who had been standing to attention all this time. "Bring your fellow students to the hall."

"Yes Master," he said with an odd accent, and turned on his heel before he walked in calm and measured paces to the double doors at the end of the hall.

Yen Sid and Mickey took their seats, and soon the doors opened again and Miguel returned with two other people; one was a teenaged boy, sixteen or maybe even seventeen, and the other a girl who couldn't be much more than fifteen. The boy had very pale skin and short stark white hair, and on closer inspection as he took his place flanking his Master's chair, his eyes were found to be pink. Aqua was intrigued; she had never met a human albino before. His attire was the same as Miguel's, but cut to fit him perfectly and accommodate his much lankier frame. The girl's clothes were ever so slightly different; her plain shirt was longer, and had a circular collar rather than a v-neck like her fellow students, and it was also longer, ending closer to her knees than the others. She was tall, but incredibly slight, and had jet-black hair that was shot through with tufts of blue and purple here and there. She stood beside the white haired boy, unable to curb her curiosity and glanced quickly around the table – her eyes met Rhiannon's, and the woman smiled at her, raising her eyebrows, but the girl only nodded her head slightly in response.

"Well then," Yen Sid said, taking charge of the situation. "Shall we begin?"

There was a murmur of ascent from around the table.

"As you can see, I was wrong to assume the stories of the Keyblade Dragon were merely that – stories." He waved a hand unnecessarily at Leo, who shied from the attention that was focused on him suddenly. "The purpose of this meeting of Keyblade Masters is to try and unravel what the implications are of his existence." He nodded to Kaoru, who turned a sharp eye onto Aqua's party.

"If I may, I would like to know how he came to be with you, High Master Aqua."

Aqua gulped. She was really starting to hate that title. "King Mickey found Mel after she had been attacked by a group of heartless. She needed a place to stay, and she was mostly untrained with the keyblade so we took her in. She had a stone that with her she had been given, though none of us knew what it was until it hatched." She stopped when she couldn't think of anything else to say. What _could_ you say? She had been in complete and utter shock when Leo fell out of his egg.

"Perhaps Mel could tell us for herself." Kaoru said calmly.

Mel slid down to the floor and stood as tall and straight as she could. Despite her small stature, she could command quite the aura of authority; with Leo crouched at her elbow, rubbing his head against her side, she no longer seemed nervous.

"There was an elderly man I lived with for a while when I needed a place to stay, during the time that I was travelling between the worlds before I joined with Master Aqua. He let me do chores in exchange for food and board, and wouldn't except any money in return. He also gave me a stone that was shaped like a tear drop." From one of her pouches she extracted fragments of the eggshell she had saved. She and Aqua had thought it would be appropriate to bring them. "I don't think he knew what it was, he just said he thought I would like it because I collect stones and crystals." She then went on to explain how she had taken it to Aqua, and they had failed to discover what it was until it hatched, and talked about how it had fallen down the stairs by accident and had appeared to sustain no damage whatsoever. Mel also produced the book they had found in the moth eaten trunk, and the mountains of notes they had collectively made as well. She gave them to Yen Sid, who passed them to Kaoru to read while Rhiannon and Jondalar asked questions that Mel answered. Ansem stood up to deliver his own views and observations on the dragon in question, advocating Mel's claims to his intelligence and providing more insight into the medical side of things. Rhiannon seemed quite interested in this area in particular, and quizzed him while Jondalar skimmed through the notes with at first great interest, which quickly wore off as he became bored and passed them on without seeming to care too much.

"You claim he can speak." Kaoru stated once silence had descended. "I would like to see."

"Leo?" Mel said, looking his way.

Leo turned from her to Aqua, and gave her a wolfish grin before he opened his mouth. "Ahhkwahhh." He recited each of their names to the best of his ability, and Mel explained that certain sounds made by humans were beyond him because his mouth and jaws were the wrong shape to accommodate them.

"How do we know he hasn't just been taught to parrot sounds?" Jondalar asked curiously, though possibly with slightly too much accusation for comfort.

Leo snorted with disdain and turned his nose up at the idea.

"He understands the meaning of the words he can say, and he understands everything _we_ say." Mel said, a touch defensively. "Ask him to do something." She gave Leo a look, and he conceded grudgingly.

"All right then," Jondalar said, rising to the challenge. "Jump on the spot."

Leo gave Mel a pleading look before he complied, making the hall shake.

"Still not convinced." Jondalar shrugged. "I mean, you can teach a dog to do tricks."

Leo snarled, and everyone who was unfamiliar with him did a double take.

"Easy…" Mel murmured, stroking him.

"Leo, go get us a white rose from the garden," Terra said loudly so everyone could hear. Leo gave him a quizzical look before he sauntered off to the doors, and returned a few minutes later with a single white rose, held proudly aloft for all to see. "See?" Terra motioned to him.

"He could still learn to do that," though Jondalar looked less certain.

Leo leant over the table and dropped the flower in front of Mickey. "Gosh, thanks Leo!" he said with a smile.

"May I ask something of the dragon?" Kaoru said to Aqua.

"You'll have to Mel."

"Of course!" she said, slightly flustered.

Kaoru asked Leo to go to the gardens and find a particular plant, and dig up its roots to be brought back in tact. He didn't say the name of the plant, just described the colour, shape and texture of stem, leaves and flowers; Leo gave Mel a blank look and she asked for Kaoru to repeat the description again so he could catch all of it. Leo bustled off, and they waited in silence until he came back; he walked over to Kaoru's side of the table, and the young girl looked a bit scared as the dragon advanced on her, but Leo gently avoided getting to close to her and set the twisted red roots, still covered with a light coat of earth, before the Master. Kaoru examined the offering carefully, and then nodded.

"Thank you." He said to Leo, who beamed with pride for getting it right and showing up that annoying man. "I do believe that Leo is an intelligent being." He said simply as Leo settled beside Mel once again, humming with contentment.

The debate went on, and they discussed different avenues of thought, but no one could quite reach a satisfactory conclusion. Rhiannon thought the heartless were on the rise in a natural cycle, given the most recent unbalances in the universe, and it was just on its way to settling down again. Jondalar was of the opinion that they weren't, and it was just because people felt paranoid since what had happened last time, so when they saw larger groups of heartless they panicked. Kaoru seemed to think that the veil over the issue would eventually raise itself when the time was right – the sort of cryptic remark you would expect from a wise old Master. Yen Sid seemed to agree, and Ansem remarked that he was merely there to offer a scientific insight, and that his opinion wasn't worth much with regard to the keyblade. Sora objected, but he quickly shut mouth when he realised he was talking over someone else. Despite their best efforts to divide them up into separate factions, it was still clear to anyone with an ounce of sense and who looked close enough that they all answered to Aqua – whether she liked it or not.

"It seems clear that other forces are at work here," Yen Sid eventually said after they had exhausted the debate. "Perhaps more will come to light as time passes. Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Rhiannon raised her hand. "Just to say that I tink it's pretty clear that High Master Aqua and Mel, as well as the other's here have done a great job so far in raising Leo, and he's a credit to them."

Aqua flushed with embarrassment and pride, and looked over to see Mel scratching Leo's neck with a big smile.

"As you say, Yen Sid." Kaoru said gravely. "We will have to wait and see. All that we can do is to make sure both dragon and warrior are properly trained, which seems to me to be the state of affairs."

With not much else left to say on the matter, the meeting shortly came to an end, and Yen Sid brought it to an official close. Mickey announced the presence of drinks and refreshments in the garden rooms at the back of the castle, and everyone stood up. Kaoru turned to his three students, the same calm and grave expression on his face as he had maintained throughout the council.

"We will be leaving at four o'clock this afternoon, be sure you are ready by that time. For now, I will be with Master Yen Sid in the library if I am required for any reason. You are dismissed."

"Master," they all bowed their heads in unison as he swept away with Yen Sid.

"Well that was dull." Ven said, a little too loudly and Aqua gave him a withering look.

"High Master."

Aqua jumped out of her skin when she found Master Kaoru stood behind her. "Y-yes?" she asked, trying to calm her pulse and meet his gaze steadily with some dignity.

He looked straight into her eyes, and she had the uncomfortable sensation that he was looking straight through her. "I knew your Master. He was a good man, and a hard loss."

Aqua's throat constricted painfully, and all she could do was nod in response. Kaoru looked from her to Terra, and then to Ven, giving them the same penetrating glance.

"You three are a credit to Eraqus. I know he would be proud of you."

As Aqua tried to get a grip on her emotions on top of her already frazzled nerves, Master Kaoru left the hall with Yen Sid. His three students visibly relaxed as the formal air mellowed, and the girl turned to meet Rhiannon's gaze with a smile

"Come here, you!" the woman said, striding over with her arms outstretched. The girl rushed over with a squeal of delight and flung her arms around her neck. "Look at you now! Stop growing, dammit!"

"Rhi!" she giggled. "I missed you!" she took a step back, brow creased. "But no Evie?"

"No." Rhiannon said shortly. "But when I find that pathetic excuse of a Seeker she'll be sorry she ever-!"

"Where's my hug!" the albino boy demanded, nearly flattening her with his enthusiasm.

"What, no hug from you then?" Rhiannon asked Miguel as he followed Ansem to the doors.

"I've outgrown them." He said in the same calm and collected tone as his Master.

"Hugs have no place in Master training, don't you know!" the boy teased, wagging a finger at her pointedly and adopting a pompous air.

"Oh, come here," Rhiannon ignored the jibe and turned to Aqua. "I should probably introduce you. This here's Dorothy and Alonzo."

"We call him Allie," Dorothy supplied.

"And she's Dee-Dee." Alonzo said with a grin that was worthy of Sora.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Aqua smiled at them.

"Rhi used to be apprenticed to Master Kaoru." Alonzo added. "That's why we're on first names terms with – the_ Master_!"

"Used to be?" Ven asked, wincing when Aqua swatted at him.

"Past tense being the operative." Rhiannon said. "But he felt Master Solomon could train me to my full potential better than he could."

"You mean the Master got sick of her," Alonzo said in a stage whisper.

Rhiannon raised her eyebrows. "I tink it was a blessed relief to all parties concerned when Master Sol took me in."

"Guys!" Sora shouted, bouncing with impatience. "There's cake! Daisy made it especially for us!"

"Woohoo!" Ven dashed after him. "I'm so in!"

"Ven!" Aqua called after him as the two of them bounced out into the corridors. "No running in the halls! Hey-!"

Leo bounded after them, nearly flattening Jondalar in the process and making Terra laugh loudly.

"Leo!" Mel fretted, racing after him to try and minimise the damage he wrought.

"C'mon, Riku!" Kairi ran after them, tugging him along with her.

"Hey, Kairi – wait!"

"Free food sounds good to me!" Lea sauntered after them.

Rhiannon gave Aqua a good-humoured look. "Quite the rabble you have there."

Aqua hung her head in despair. "I don't know what I'll _do_ with them…"

"That's all right, ma'am." Alonzo said with a grin. "You don't have to worry about _us_ causing you any trouble."

"Only because your Master will vaporise you if you do." Rhiannon snorted.

"I think Aqua's working her way up to it," Terra sniggered.

"Oh shut up…" she pleaded, feeling a headache coming on.

It was just all too much…

XOXOX

All in all, the aftermath of the meeting was keeping in tune with the whole 'fostering friendship' thing Yen Sid had talked about. After the initial shock of realising Sora was the one who had defeated the Heartless and the Organisation, Alonzo and Dorothy started playing tag sparring with him and Riku, while Ven refereed. Kairi and Mel sat on a bench, eating cake and sipping tea while they watched the rabble at work. Terra was intensely surprised and somewhat flattered when Miguel sort him out, formally introducing himself and asking for advice on the Mark of Mastery. Terra wasn't by any means an expert, but he was happy to share his knowledge and experience with the young man.

Aqua was talking to Rhiannon, sharing stories and jokes from her days as an apprentice, and the woman seemed to sense her disquiet over the title of _High Master_ as she made no reference to it at all. Miguel was called over by Alonzo to take part in their mini tournament, which Sora was currently winning though he had yet to face Riku. Terra wondered over to the women just as Jondalar did.

"Hello, ladies," he said with a playful grin. "What are you all up to?"

"None of your business, to be sure." Rhiannon said, not as convincingly playful.

"So, Aqua!" he said taking her hands and giving them a slight tug. "And you too, Terra! Come over," he waved at him. "I haven't seen you two in years!"

"Yeah, how've you been?" Terra asked, putting an arm around Aqua's waist for emphasis that seemed to escape his notice.

"Oh, this and that. You know the drill!" Jondalar laughed in a carefree manner, and Rhiannon rolled her eyes. "Been thinking I might take on an apprentice of my own. I see you have already," he winked at Aqua, who flushed. "And you just had to nab the one with the legendary dragon, too!"

They all turned to look at the dragon in question, lounging in the sunlight beside Mel and Kairi having his belly rubbed like an over sized house cat.

"Any particular model in mind?" Rhiannon asked in a bored tone, as if to only humour him.

Jondalar didn't catch the irony, and ploughed on. "Someone with talent, you know? They are much easier to train up, I think. I see Eraqus got that kid up to flying speed. Heard he was a real slow coach to begin with," he nodded at Ven, currently breaking up a verbal fight between Sora and Riku on the sidelines of their designated battlefield.

Terra was about to let his patience snap, but he felt Aqua's fingers lace through his, and with a great effort he pulled back against his instincts.

"Harsh." Rhiannon snapped on his behalf. "Stop being an egit, Jondalar."

"Please, I've said this before!" he flashed her a smile that showed off his dimples. Terra wanted to vomit. "Call me Jono!"

"You're Jondalar. The biggest egit in this corner of the multiverse."

"Now you sound just like Evalyn!" he pouted.

"What can I say? She rubbed off on me." She said coolly.

"Aren't teachers supposed to have a bigger influence on you?" he said carelessly. "I mean, students take after their teachers, right?"

"In most cases."

"Would you say you took after your Master?" Jondalar asked Aqua and Terra.

"I hope so." Aqua said quietly, uncertain of herself.

Terra made a noncommittal noise at the back of his throat. He was glad when Mel came over on the pretext of getting more tea, and joined the conversation instead to provide a soothing influence.

"Well, pressure's on you then!" Jondalar said happily to Mel, who blinked with surprise.

"Is it?"

"Your Master isn't just _any_ Master! _High_ Master's a lot to live up to, isn't it? Work's cut out for you! And you have to raise that dragon, and all."

Terra was half expecting Mel to say something quietly witty or subtly profound that would shut Jondalar up, but it seemed she didn't quite know what to make of him, or the best way to deal with him – he had managed to wrong foot her, something that was incredibly rare these days.

"Terra!" Ven shouted. "Help!"

Terra sighed, and decided Aqua was safe enough to be left for a few minutes while he sorted the problem out. They argued heatedly about the rules of tag sparring, as blurred and varied as they already were, and came to the conclusion Alonzo's move against Dorothy was illegal.

As Terra returned to the group he had left, after Kairi joined the spectators, he saw Leo watching Jondalar intently, tail flicking in agitation.

"…just don't get it!" Jondalar was saying. "A High Master? Why? Was it really necessary? Old Yen Sid's got it all under control, right?"

There was a tense silence, and Terra noted that Leo had gotten to his feet. Mel quickly changed the subject, and they all started talking again; Terra found Rhiannon funny and interesting. She was quite dry and sarcastic in her humour, and her lilting accent with the tendency to drop the soft 'th' sounds for a hard 'tuh' made listening to her speak quite fascinating. There was also a deep undercurrent that was nigh impossible to comprehend fully – but despite her somewhat abrupt manner, she came across as nice and honest. She just said what she was thinking, without much care as to what anyone would think of her. Terra decided he liked her, especially since she wasn't above verbally rebuking Jondalar.

Speaking of the man; while Rhiannon talked to Mel about a particular spell that was tricky to master but highly useful when attempting to sneak around, Jondalar had approached Aqua, and Terra phased out what the other two were saying so he could tune in on him.

"You still living in that castle of yours?"

"Yes." Aqua didn't look comfortable. She had looked progressively more hurt each time Master Eraqus was mentioned in an offhanded manner, and Terra was torn between wanting to protect her and wanting to not show her up. It would look _really_ bad if he decked another Master at a meeting designed to promote goodwill…

"I seem to remember you and Terra were pretty close as kids." Jondalar nodded sagely. "You still close now?"

"Yes." She said, more defiantly.

"I did wonder." He shrugged, then gave her a cheeky grin. "I guess that means if I asked for a date you'd say…?" he let the question tail off unfinished, and she blushed furiously.

"As if a sophisticated lady like Aqua would want a repulsive slug like _you_." Rhiannon cut in sharply.

Jondalar put a hand over his heart and staggered dramatically. "Ouch! Rhi's always so cold! Like the cold and brutal kiss of winter,"

"You can kiss the backside of a chocobo for all I care. Quit bothering her," Rhiannon snapped, motioning impatiently with her hand to try and propel him away from her.

"Am I being a burden?" he asked theatrically, taking Aqua's hand.

She took a step back, taking her hand with her. Terra made a move towards her, but her motion seemed to have been the signal Leo was waiting for. He flew along close to the ground and to her side; wings outstretched to give an impression of added mass, and bared his teeth menacingly as he carefully swept Aqua behind him with his leg. He stared the man down and hissed; Jondalar nearly fell over in his haste to escape.

"Leo," Mel said firmly, and he closed his mouth and sat down beside Aqua, glowering.

"Scary boy, your dragon. Isn't he?" Jondalar laughed shakily.

"He's very protective of his family." Mel said evenly, stroking his long neck.

"Family? Oh, you mean you guys! His adoptive family."

"We _are_ his family." Terra snapped angrily. Leo cooed in response, and licked his cheek happily, which lightened his mood considerably.

"Can't imagine what Eraqus would have done with him." Jondalar said vaguely.

Mel frowned openly at him, something she was normally good at hiding in public. Leo growled quietly in response, and Aqua started to clam up. Terra was close to physical violence; he was used to venting his frustration with impromptu sparring sessions, especially with Ven, so his bad feelings didn't really have as much chance to condense into violent urges because they were buffered against experienced friends venting their own annoyance in a controlled manner. Today, Terra had been bottling it all up without the chance to channel it anywhere; even Mel's tactics were wearing off.

"So," Jondalar changed the subject and turned to Mel with a warm smile that she returned with neutrality. "Has Ventus swept you off your feet yet, or am I in with a chance?"

Mel frowned and said, "I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment."

"Whoa," Jondalar put his hands up. "Okay, just friends. No pressure, yeah?"

"Why must you be such an egit?" Rhiannon asked, exasperated.

"Can you blame me with so many beautiful and talented women around? Sure, she's a little young for me and all, but still – argh!"

Leo had advanced on him with a roar that attracted everyone's attention. He really did fall over this time, and scrambled to put some distance between himself and the enraged dragon. Leo put himself bodily between the man and Mel with Aqua; he snarled and took another step forward as if daring him to try something.

"Leo!" Mel said sharply, but he didn't move. "Enough!" he relented a bit, but Jondalar quickly left the scene not long after, claiming to want to watch the mini tournament going on and fairly ran for it. "You shouldn't scare people like that," Mel berated him, and Leo looked quite unrepentant.

"Excuse me," Aqua said quickly, and hurried off down the path and away from the congregation.

"Is she all right, flower?" Rhiannon asked.

Mel bit her lip and watched Aqua go. She looked to Terra, whose anger had dissipated instantly. "I'll go check on her," he told her.

"God!" he heard Rhiannon rant. "I'm gonna _kill_ that moron myself! Such a…"

Leo grunted and slammed his tail against the ground in agitation, drowning her words out with the sound.

Terra followed the path to a small stream that trickled and bubbled through the castle grounds, where Aqua was standing. She had her face in her hands, and her shoulders shook as if she were trying to stave off sobs. He _hated_ seeing her like this…

"Aqua," he began.

"No!" she turned around so her back was to him. "I'm fine!" she snapped, almost angrily. "Just leave me alone, Terra."

Of course, he didn't believe a word. "Aqua," he tried again.

"Please!" she said in a strangled voice, ending on a sob as she said, "I need a moment alone. Just go away,"

Terra reached for her, and when he took her in his arms she didn't resist him. She burst into tears and clung to him, letting it all go. When she started to calm down he held her by the shoulders and tried to get her to look him in the eye, which she evaded.

"What's wrong?"

"Just…" she wiped her eyes dry, only to be replaced with fresh tears. "Just…" she struggled to find the words, and then just exploded, "I can't do this!"

"Do what?" Terra was confused. He had expected Jondalar's careless attitude and free tongue to be the source of the current problem – apparently it ran much deeper.

"High Master. I just can't do it!" Aqua cried, covering her face again.

"What makes you say that?" he asked softly, and Aqua went on a rant about everything – her feelings of inadequacy, the weight of the responsibility, the expectations she had to live up to: everything.

"I never wanted this!" she insisted, as if trying to convince herself. "I just wanted the three of us to be Masters, together! I hate being higher than you! And everyone goes on about how great Master Eraqus was, I'll never be like him, no matter how much I try!"

Terra frowned. He couldn't speak for the others, but he was sure none of them expected her to be exactly like Master Eraqus – that would just be impossible. "I don't think," he tried to say, but stopped when she dissolved into sobs again and he speech became hard to decipher.

"I j-j-just wish he w-w-was h-here! He alw-w-ways knew what t-too do-oo! I n-n-need help – I-I-I can't do th-this by m-m-myself-f!"

"Aqua." Terra said firmly, in the best no nonsense tone he could conjure under the circumstances. "Look at me."

Reluctantly, she raised her head and after a little more gentle coaxing, opened her eyes. They were bright with tears, but he could sense her strong will deep within, still in tact. Her body and mind needed an outlet for the pent up emotions she had been feeling, and this was just the way they had chosen to manifest this particular time.

"No one expects you to be perfect, or exactly like Master Eraqus. And as much as I wish it were otherwise, he's not here with us anymore. We're by ourselves, but we're not alone. Because we have each other, right?" he plucked his wayfinder from his pocket and held it up so the light glanced off its surface. "And we always will."

Aqua looked away to the side, and then cast her gaze to the ground, eyes closed and shaking her head. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

"What?"

"Over reacting…"

"No," he enveloped her in a hug, and she pressed herself against him. "Jondalar's just an idiot." He also used a few other and somewhat rude names, that in the normal course of things would have earned him a smack. "All right?" he asked, gently taking her shoulders and a step back to look her in the face.

Aqua managed to give him a watery smile, and wiped her eyes away. "I just don't like it. Being _High_ Master. It just…doesn't feel right."

"Well, maybe it's best if _you're_ the High Master instead of us." He grinned suddenly, full of irrepressible mischief. "Can you imagine? It'd go straight to Ven's head!"

They both laughed at the thought. "And what about you?" she said, poking him in the ribs.

"My ego wouldn't fit through the front door!"

It was silly, childish, stupid. And it brought a real smile to her lips.

Eventually after they had both calmed down, Terra stroked her hair and said, "You ready to head back now?"

"One moment," Aqua crouched down by the stream and splashed some water over her face to wash away the tears stains. "Okay." She said, eyes closed and breathing deeply. "I'm ready."

"Sure?" he asked slyly, placing his hands on her hips, enjoying how her eyes widened at the gesture.

"Yeah?" she said uncertainly.

"Maybe a kiss for luck?" he asked.

Aqua raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Really?" she asked derisively.

"What?" he feigned a hurt expression.

"You're weird, Terra." She rolled her eyes, but didn't push him away as he leaned forward.

"Just one of the many thing's you love about me," he teased, brushing his lips against hers. He laughed when she did push him away, rolling her eyes once again. "Well, don't you?"

"You just like sapping my sanity, don't you?" she asked, defeated.

"Nah," his eyes flashed playfully as she turned her back on him and struck a careless pose, nose in the air. "You're just sexy when you're mad!" he told her before he slapped her backside with what was meant to be a light, teasing and playful gesture.

Aqua gasped, jumped out of her skin, and when she recovered from her shock gave him a look full of ire that had him running for cover.

"Get back here!" she shrieked at him angrily to compensate for her bright red face.

Terra just laughed, glad to see a return to her usual self. She tackled him to the ground and aimed a punch at him, which he easily deflected before he took her wrists and pinned them to her sides. She glowered at him and turned her face aside when he tried to kiss her.

"What's _wrong_ with you?" she hissed, angry and embarrassed.

"You're my problem." He said, and she shot him a venomous look. "Let me finish!" her stony expression didn't shift. "Because," he said, leaning his face close to hers, so their noses touched. "You've stolen my heart." He said in a low voice.

They gazed at length into each other's eyes lovingly until Aqua broke the mood and said, "You totally stole that from that novel the Master read to us, didn't you?"

It was Terra's turn to pull away in disgust. "You complain I'm not romantic enough, and when I am you just complain some more!"

"Because that's not an original line! I mean, come _on_! 'Stolen my heart'? That's got to be the oldest pick up line in the book!"

"It's not a pick up line! And I already picked you up, anyway!" he winced when he realised what he'd just said.

Aqua stared at him hard for a moment before she got to her feet, dusted herself down, and marched away with her head held high.

"Wait, that came out wrong!" he said, scrambling to follow her.

"Just go away!"

"But-!"

"Pick me up?!" she turned to face him mid-stride so they crashed into each other. "Is that what you-?!"

"No!" he shook her to get his point across. "I just meant that – I don't need to use crappy pick up lines with you. Y'know…because I love you and you already know it?" he said in quiet, hopeful voice.

For a moment, Terra thought she would explode again, but instead she heaved a great sigh and fell into his arms, sagging heavily. "I have no energy anymore…"

"Sorry. I'm just-"

"An idiot." She supplied for him, hiding in the crook of his neck.

"Yup." He said dully, eyes closed. He supposed this was what Mel meant when she used the term 'foot in mouth syndrome'.

XOXOX

Rhiannon had been watching shrewdly as the younger members of the meeting had congregated together to swap techniques and ideas – in other words, _play about_. It hadn't taken a lot of focus or attention on her part to notice how close Terra and Aqua were, nor that the younger woman seemed to have an aversion to her title. The look on her face when Master Kaoru had mentioned Eraqus…it made Rhiannon think about Master Sol. The youngest of his apprentices, the hot tempered Evalyn, had taken his death pretty hard; even if she had been making jokes and telling stories about him the last time Rhiannon had seen her, it was clear she still felt the pain of his loss sharply. But Master Solomon had died from natural causes, namely old age. From what Rhiannon had pieced together from the fragments that floated in the winds of gossip and rumour, it sounded like Eraqus had been cut down before his time. Of course it would still be hurting his students.

It had also come to Rhiannon's attention that Terra was on the borderlines of despising Jondalar. Not that she blamed him… She personally found the man immature, unthinking, and really quite dim. Possibly his only redeeming qualities was his physically attractive appearance and his inherent charm in the way he spoke – if you were a young air headed girl. Aqua was neither of these things, and Rhiannon felt the need to cut the man down when he started picking on Ventus, before Terra started contemplating murder, or at the very least grievous bodily harm. She knew the feeling; Rhiannon was the middle student in their group, only two years younger than Kenny – and Evie was seven years younger than Rhiannon. She bridled on Ventus' behalf as surely as she would have for her own friend.

But quite apart from that particular band of keyblade wielders, Rhiannon was intensely fascinated with Sora. Claimed by some to have been the 'Keyblade's Chosen One', which he had been quick to deny when asked by Alonzo – for such a great and grand destiny, and an impressive resume under his young belt, he was certainly not what she expected, even if he was still a teenager.

The boy seemed to be permanently happy; he was always smiling at everyone he spoke to, unless he was bickering with Master Riku with whom he had sat with at the council. It was clear they were firm friends, despite the number of spats they seemed to have; when they fought in the tournament they were holding they really went for each other. Even when Riku knocked him down, he bounced right back up with a grin and congratulated him before sauntering off to get a drink.

That a young man, who had been no more than a boy when his journey started, he wasn't what Rhiannon had expected at all. Yen Sid had described him as an energetic, immature young man with a big heart and an attitude. She had cringed and thought of a younger and more competent Jondalar. Sora was quite childlike, but he was much more socially adept than Jondalar – he had that way of looking at mundane things and seeing the inherent magic in them; he picked a few flowers that had been trampled by the dragon (another avenue of thought for Rhiannon) as he rushed to get out of Ventus' way, and took them to the red haired girl who had sat on Riku's other side, grinning and showing her the colours of the crushed petals, chatting animatedly about his mother's flower garden at home. He was also somewhat cocky, and a bit of a show off, but he never seemed to lose face; following Ventus in a balancing competition on a bench, he laughed it off when he was the first to fall, and conceded every time he lost to someone in a fight, despite his loud and boisterous assurances before hand that he was sure to succeed in winning.

And the other thing on Rhiannon's mind: that dragon…

Leo was in her good books already, because he had made Jondalar practically wet himself. It was a shame her two friends couldn't be here to see that; they would have probably wet themselves laughing and all.

The picture of the great dragon (that Master Sol had always said was just a story) in her mind had been of a great and majestic, noble beast with scaly skin and fiery breath, and with the answer to the mounting heartless problem. The reality was an enthusiastic puppy in the guise of an oversized feathery lizard. Black feathers of a raven hue, with varying shades of deep and bright purple flaring up in patches, ornate curved horns, deep golden eyes and massive bird like wings, with a ruff of shorter feathers peppering his chin and jaw like a beard. Intelligent eyes, a quick wit apparent in the way he reacted to the jokes people made, and a fierce devotion to his carers. Clearly, he liked Sora and his friends, and loved Ventus and Terra – but he adored Mel and Aqua.

"This seat taken?"

Rhiannon blinked out of her musings to look up at Riku, panting and holding a glass of water.

"Nope. Help yourself, pet." She told him.

Riku sank gratefully onto the seat beside her and leaned back against the bench, sighing.

"Tiring yourself out a bit, aren't ya?" she commented.

"It's fun though," he said with a grin, wiping his hair out of his eyes. "Alonzo and Miguel are so good!"

"You aren't too shabby yourself," she nodded at his keyblade, stuck in the ground between his feet as he leaned against it for support.

"Riku!" the red haired girl came over with a plate, which she offered to them both, piled high with finger sandwiches. "So who's winning?" she asked, sitting down on the ground by Riku's feet and waving away the offer of a seat on the bench.

"Hard to tell. Ven's got Alonzo on the run, but I bet Miguel could give him a run for his money."

"Too bad Sora dipped out." She said, stuffing a sandwich into her mother.

Riku tapped her shoulder and leant down to the plate. "Gimme!"

"Ask nicely!" she swatted at him with a laugh.

"Sorry flower, but what was your name again?" Rhiannon asked, trying to place it.

"I'm Kairi," she shook hands firmly, before going back to her plate.

"You're as bad as Sora! Ouch-!" Riku winced.

Ah, of course – that's right. Yen Sid said one of the apprentices in this neck of the woods was also a Princess of Heart. It was hard not to notice the light pouring from the girl.

Riku laughed when Sora tripped over his own feet in a fight against Dee-Dee and was sent off, red faced as Alonzo started teasing him over it. "Jealous?" Riku said slyly to Kairi, who continued to stuff her face with dignity, and swallowed before she spoke.

"Nope."

"Figures…" Riku leant back, smirking. "Well, this _is_ Sora we're talking about. He wouldn't know a flirt if it slapped him in the face."

"I don't have to worry about that sort of thing. Because-!" she pummelled Riku's knees good-naturedly. "In a lot of ways, he's actually very mature!"

"Are we talking about the same guy?" he feigned ignorance, and chuckled when she continued to swipe at him from the ground. "I mean, Sora? _Mature_?"

"Well, he _can_ be immature." She reasoned, and they started slapping each other's hands in a sort of game as she continued. "In some ways he is, but in others, he really _is_ mature."

Riku snorted. "Inability to hold a grudge doesn't count."

Rhiannon raised her eyebrows as she watched them. It was clear the young man adored the girl like a little sister, and even if he liked winding her up he clearly enjoyed indulging in these childish arguments to make her happy.

"He has his moments though!" Kairi argued back, grinning.

"Most of them silly…"

As if to back this up, Sora came over with a bouncy stride and three ice creams, and a bigger grin than Kairi's. "Hey guys!" he brandished the cold and sticky treats at them. "Oh!" he looked put out when he realised there weren't enough, and then brightened instantly as he handed one to Rhiannon, surprising her. "That's okay, I'll go get another one!" and he turned on his heel and disappeared.

"See?" Kairi said smugly, digging in and getting a large dollop on her nose, making Riku laugh.

Rhiannon watched as Sora managed to keep bumping into people and handing out yet more ice creams. First he ran into Aqua and Terra returning from the gardens, giving the ice cream intended for himself to the High Master before dashing off to get one for Terra; then he managed to supply the tournament participants, and even Jondalar and Ansem the Wise when he returned with his apprentice. Then Mel and Leo were supplied, and by the end of it, there were no ice creams left.

"I'd share mine but I ate it." Kairi said, wide-eyed and innocent.

"That's all right," he shrugged it off, but clearly looked up set. "It's only ice cream! Right?" he smiled unconvincingly.

Riku had been slowly slurping his way through his ice cream, and Sora zoned in on it before sidling up to his friend and flinging his arms around his shoulders, snuggling up against his arm like a contented cat.

"What do you want?" Riku said quickly.

"You know how I'm your best friend…?" Sora wheedled like a child angling for the kill.

"No."

"Please?" Sora did a good puppy dog impression – Leo rolled onto his back with a guttural grunt that sounded liked laughter.

Riku's eyes shone with mischief, and he said, "Yeah, okay then!" before he crushed it against Sora's face. He sputtered and wiped the remains of the ice cream out of his eyes and nose before fixing Riku with a baleful glare. "You asked for it!"

"Hey Riku, I got something else for you here," Sora pretended to look in his pockets, and Riku leant over dramatically for a better look. "A knuckle sandwich!" Sora crowed, pouncing. They tussled with each other and ended up on the grass wrestling.

"Oh for-!" Aqua hung her head in despair while Terra nearly fell over laughing. "All right, that's enough!" she called to them, still throwing punches and laughing loudly at each other, name calling and drawing a watching crowd. "Enough!" Aqua stepped in and physically dragged them apart, lifting Sora up under his arms and turning around to throw out a hand to keep Riku from closing the distance, though they continued to swipe at each other, grinning.

Much later, when everyone was thinking about fixing to leave, Rhiannon was talking to Alonzo and Miguel, she laughed when they commented on Sora and the expectations they had had of him. "Full of surprises." Rhiannon said sagely.

"He's kinda like a little kid still, but he's got the sense to know an injustice when he sees one." Alonzo said. "He couldn't stand any illegal moves in the tournament we had!"

"A credit to Yen Sid and to Master Aqua, to be sure." She nodded.

They looked expectantly at Miguel, who said nothing.

"Yo! Tall, dark and handsome," Alonzo said, waving his hands in the young man's face.

Miguel only just deigned to look down at him. "What now?"

"Weren't you listening to us?"

"No, I was wondering about the ethics of the relationships between Masters and their students."

"Um…_Why_?" Alonzo said, eyebrows raised.

"Hey guys," Dorothy said, walking over to them and adjusting the hem of her tunic, which had been split during a battle.

"Just wondering, because of _that_." Miguel said stiltedly, nodding over at a secluded corner of the garden. When she turned to look, Rhiannon saw Aqua and Terra wrapped up in each other's arms, and in their own little world apparently, kissing. "I wouldn't have thought that was ethical."

"Dude! Stop perving on them!" Alonzo said, aghast and covering Miguel's eyes.

"Get off!" he snapped, brushing his junior aside.

"Aww," Dorothy smiled. "That's sweet."

"She was his Master until recently. I'm sure there's a code of conduct against sleeping with your Master." Miguel said adamantly.

"Uh, _hello_? They were students together, grew up together under the same Master…circumstances are just a bit weird, so he completed his training under her. So what? Stop looking!" Alonzo snapped. "You wouldn't want a moron gawking at you if you were trying to snog your girlfriend!"

"Nice to see there's been no change in this camp." Rhiannon said loudly, arms folded and Dorothy leaning against her with a hug. She rested the side of her head against the girl's in response.

"But…" Miguel had always been a stickler for the rules, much like his Master. "That's not right, is it?"

Rhiannon shrugged. Master Sol had been so laid back he was horizontal – something like this wouldn't have made him batter an eyelid. Though it did make her wonder what Kaoru would think…

"Why should you care?" Alonzo snapped again. He was quite hot blooded on occasion, and liked trying to wind Miguel up though he rarely ever succeeded. "It's none of _your _business!"

"What would you think if it was Dee-Dee sleeping with the Master?" Miguel snapped back.

"Hey!" Dorothy looked affronted and stood bolt upright at the very notion.

"That would just be weird! She's like less than a third of his age or something!" Alonzo pulled a face.

"Steady on, pet. He's not as old as _that_."

"I'm only fifteen." She gulped. "That would make him…" she started counting.

"I just question whether it's appropriate to sleep with the Master you are supposed to answer to." Miguel said primly, sensing his was the losing side.

"I tink Master Terra's likely to a bit more eloquent then that when propositioning. I mean, it's hardly like he's tearing her clothes off, is it?"

"But-" he said with a frown, but was cut short and the three of them jumped to attention.

"Master Terra and High Master Aqua are of the same age." Kaoru said as he swept into their midst, giving each of his students penetrating looks. "If things had panned out as they should, she would never have had to finish his training herself. And, Miguel," the young man lifted his chin and listened intently. "If you were to pay attention you would notice the subtle but distinct hallmarks of true love. Remember students: to love is never wrong, even if it brings you great pains. To deny your love, to ignore and push it away, incites the darkness just as much as a lust and greed for power, or a fear of inadequacy or losing." He gave them all a grave look, including Rhiannon.

It had been years since she had looked up to him as _her_ Master, but he still had the power to make her feel like a misbehaving child.

"Now then, are you ready to leave?"

"Yes, Master." They said in unison.

Kaoru eyed Dorothy's torn clothes. "What happened to you, child?"

"I ripped my shirt when we were sparring." She said without missing a beat.

"That will need mending. Wait for me by the castle gates." He dismissed them and turned to Rhiannon, who had been hoping to escape as well. He paused for a moment, as if weighing his words carefully before he spoke them. "I hope Master Evalyn is found soon and in good health."

"I the same." She said, slightly rattled. Evie had an aversion to Kaoru on account of the freedom Master Sol had extended to them – she hated being caged up, or expected to ask 'how high?' when told to jump.

"And I hope Master Kenneth returns from his Vision Quest safely."

Her eyebrows rose, and she couldn't help from asking, "Y'heard about that?"

Kaoru nodded. "I must go. It was good to see you again in such health. Take care, Master Rhiannon."

"And you," she bowed respectfully. "Take care of yourself and your students, Master."

"He's kinda scary," Ventus said, pulling a face as Rhiannon came to join the group that was straggling behind.

"You get used to him. You shoulda met my Master," she grinned, suddenly beaming with many a happy memory. "They both thought the other was mad! Mind you, Master Sol was a bit crazy, in the nicest possible way,"

Terra sniggered, and they turned to see what was up; Jondalar was holding Mel's hands and exclaiming over her nail polish while the man tried not to laugh out loud.

"Green! The colour of the coming spring! And gold for the sun of summer – to match your warm and charming personality!"

Where the hell was Leo, Rhiannon thought to herself.

Jondalar went spouting on with spurious crap that Rhiannon didn't even understand until he flounced off to have a word with Yen Sid. Terra and Ventus burst out laughing as Mel inspected her nails closely with wide eyes that seemed possibly put on for effect, though considering how calm, docile and subdued she came across most of the time it was hard to tell.

"So?" Terra asked, wiping a tear from his eyes while Ventus gave her a big hug.

"Green. For the heart chakra, since that's what keyblade wielders tend to deal in and debate at length over. And gold, because this shade goes well with it when you use a thin layer over the top. It's also a forms a layer that makes it less prone to chipping. But to be honest, I just like this colour and it goes with my shirt."

Rhiannon chuckled. "Don't you go for a second letting that egit bother ya, now. It's a shame about his brain cell,"

"What brain cell?" Ventus asked innocently.

"Ven!" Aqua said, stalking over. "Stop insulting everyone and find Leo! We have to go home,"

"Woo! Aqua, over here!" cried the young man who had trailed Ansem the Wise all day, currently up a tall tree with Leo crouched underneath, watching intently.

"Kyo!" Mel shrieked. "Get down from there before you break something!"

"I take it that one's yours?" Rhiannon asked curiously as the young man skipped away from Mel after he had been safely deposited on the ground.

"Yes. He's my…not so little brother." She said dully, watching him go. "He's a bit immature for his age, and I worry myself sick over him."

"Hmmm." Rhiannon had tried to avoid the boy when it became apparent he was very childish, not in the same way that Sora was. She didn't get on with young children; she just couldn't handle them and had no patience for their antics. This Kyo character could have passed as an adult, or a late teen, if not for his behaviour. "But he's not one of Master Aqua's?"

"He can't use the keyblade. I more or less hoisted him onto Ansem." Mel bit her lip. "I think sometimes I might have been shirking my responsibilities…"

"He's happy enough," Ventus said bracingly, clapping her on the shoulder. "And Ansem, too!"

The warriors of the keyblade slowly marshalled themselves into order and started to leave. First the man with the bright red hair who Rhiannon had spoken to little went with Ansem and Mel's brother, and then Riku chased Sora onto their gummi ship and tore Kairi from Aqua's arms before bundling her on board too. Then the last four banded together around the dragon, and Rhiannon got to see his full set of armour that mimicked his rider's in style and colour, before they too left after saying goodbye. After paying respect and farewells to their hosts, Rhiannon followed the river away from the castle and the nearby town to her own gummi ship, where she was to spend the night.

Ansem the Wise had offered for her to visit his home, since she had said she had no immediate plans to leave. More like she had nowhere to _go_ really… she thought while she heated some food from her small fridge and sat alone at the four-seater table to eat it. Kenny was the most likely of the three to take on apprentices, and Evalyn was probably going to end up starting a family, if she ever found Mr. Right, as she kept on bitching about. Rhiannon wasn't too fussed about that sort of thing, and she was terrible at looking after children. The only way she would become a teaching Master would be if she found a mature apprentice who needed extra tutelage.

After she had eaten she went to lie on the couch for a while with a book, and sighed heavily when out of the covers fell a small origami horse, flattened from its confinement between the pages. She sat up and held it under the light of the single, spacious room that was neatly divided into kitchen, eating and lounging areas. It was small, compact, and perfect for her, yet still had the space to accommodate two other people if need be. Not that she expected to come across either of her old friends by this point…

Instead of reading, Rhiannon retired to bed early so she could be up at six to get ready to leave for Radiant Garden. On reflection of the day, she decided that she liked Aqua a lot, and that she was glad to see that the care and charge of the keyblade dragon fell under her authority.

XOXOX


	17. Down In New Orleans

**AN: title cribbed from a song because I can and have no imagination for myself xD except most probable delays for the following chapter because my health is dipping for the foreseeable future and I'm finding it hard to sit and think coherently on all the fiddly little plot twists and plans I have in store for the story as it currently stands :) (I'm hoping it will become much more involved and deepen)**

**Anyways, as always if you have the time please leave me a review to let me know your thoughts no matter how positive or negative, I need feedback to let me know where and how I can improve ;) many thanks guys!**

**And also thanks to **HeartofFyrwinde** for just existing and supplying me with a healthy dose of sanity, as well as idea bouncing :D**

_**Down in New Orleans**_

"-And watch yourselves!" Aqua shouted over the noise of the crowd. The world they were in today was setting up for a festival called Mardi Gras, and everyone was in the spirit of the occasion. All except Aqua, of course, but what was new?

Leo was plodding around the swamp outside of town, doing his own little recon for them and keeping out of sight – a near full-grown dragon would freak a lot of people out. Ven was happy to be out and about, on his first official hero mission as _Master Ventus_. He would have been more giddy and hyper if Mel hadn't been so solid and grounding. Sora and Riku were checking out another world for Aqua while Kairi was attending a social function on Destiny Island in their stead, _trying_ to keep up a flimsy appearance that was anything other than inter-world travel on a regular basis. Terra was looking at the stalls and the colourful costumes with interest, while Aqua wandered after him with her nose stuck in a book when she wasn't shouting instructions to them.

Whether she liked it or not, she was stuck with her title and position – but Ven doubted she would have been any less worried about them on this mission if she wasn't their High Master, or any less ready to bark orders at them.

"Ven!" Mel said in a low voice, tugging on his arm as a float went past them. "Look,"

A creeping Shadow heartless scuttled along flush to the ground and towards a darkened alley.

"C'mon!" Ven said, and ran off without a second thought.

"Wait!" Mel called after him, but resigned herself to following his footsteps.

Ven chased the heartless down the alleyway to a dark and dilapidated looking door with an odd looking sign hanging over it on the wall. It was shaped like a top hat with a skull and cross bones painted on it, with the words 'DR FACILIER'S VOODOO EMPORIUM'. He skidded to a halt, keyblade in hand and panting while he waited for Mel to catch up. When she did, he pointed at the sign and said, "What do you know about voodoo?"

"Not a whole lot." She said, hefting both of her keyblades up so the point ends were hooked together behind her head like a rack. "Shamanism and Animal Medicines are my forte. I know very little about voodooism."

"That heartless went in there," Ven said.

"We'd better go in and check it out." Mel said. She started when she saw Ven's expression, and added nervously, "I guess?"

Ven laughed and tried the door handle. "Sometimes I think you spend to much time with us. Your accent hasn't changed, but the way you speak has."

"What do you mean?" Mel asked, wide eyed as she followed him inside carefully. "This place is _horrible_!" she exclaimed as they crept through the room inside.

"Yikes!" Ven backed up when he realised the thing he had been squinting at was a shrunken human head.

The room was full of such items; large and scary looking wooden masks hung from the walls, heavy fabric drapes separated areas of the room from each other, and there were dusty shelves covered in an assortment of books and trinkets. Every spare space on the walls was crowded with racks of nasty looking figurines and dolls, or covered with rugs and tapestries that may have looked quite beautiful if not for the atmosphere and the garish light coming from the boarded up windows and the spitting fireplace.

"This place looks like heartless central!" Ven said as they crept through the room, the hair on the back of his neck standing to attention as he heard an eerie whispering.

"Everything's unbalanced." Mel said, taking a closer look at a shrunken head and backtracking quickly. "And I can feel coyote medicine…" when Ven gave her a quizzical look, she said, "Coyote's the trickster medicine. Herald's the arrival of unexpected and often unpleasant surprises. But also helps you to avoid them if used in a balanced manner. Which it clearly isn't in this place," she nudged a box with her toe, sending up a cloud of dust.

The door handle turned suddenly, and they both dived for cover behind a drape. A very tall, _very_ skinny man with a purple tailcoat and a top hat came in and strode straight over to a huge mask on the back wall. As Ven watched intently, he saw with a shock that the shadow cast upon the floor behind him was moving independently of the man, and even shifted altogether in a different direction from where it should have been, from where the light was coming from. Ven jumped when Mel wriggled beside, him, and he tried to give her a warning look as she hid her face in her hands, struggling against something.

The man struck a pose, hands outstretched and head held high, his back to them as he started to draw on some hidden power that reeked of darkness.

Mel doubled over and sneezed, and the man jumped around, brandishing a cane with a smooth purple sphere at the end for holding. "Who's there?" he demanded.

Ven stepped back to hide them both from view, but the drape was torn down by a group of heartless to reveal them. A few were Shadows, but most were grotesque looking dolls, branded with the emblem of their ilk and sporting button eyes, thatched hair and pins that they ripped from their own body to brandish as weapons.

"Oh would you look at that?" the man said with a fearsome scowl as he stalked towards them, shapes and shadows dimly flickering across the floor and walls around the heartless. "Another pair of slimy little creatures trying to ruin my plans! Attack!"

Ven and Mel dived in opposite directions, but she landed awkwardly and dropped one of her keyblades, grimacing as she threw up a shield and prepared a few spells to throw in Ven's defence. He managed to dispatch quite a few, but there were more and more appearing, and then suddenly he felt something connect sharply with his gut, even though he couldn't see anything in front of him. As Ven struggled and was born to the floor, he thrashed in defiance and saw with fascinated horror that there were shadows cast on the wall along with his own, that was pinning him down though no physical entity could be seen that was casting them. Mel was in a similar predicament, though she wasn't resisting as fiercely as she nursed her wrist.

"I know _just_ what to do with you!" the man said nastily, putting on a white mask that covered the top half of his face after the fashion of a skull.

The spell he cast made everything go searing white for a moment, and it took a while for Ven to come round again. When he did, he found he couldn't move easily and wondered if he yet again had been captured and trussed up like a fish. That angered him, and he physically lashed out with a snarl of frustration that pitched him over the edge of the surface he was lying on. He yelped and hit the hard cobblestones before sitting up groggily. He was in the streets, on the edge of the town near a river that led back into the bayou where Leo was. It was a bit strange, everything looked so much bigger from down here…

Ven scratched his head in puzzlement, and did a double take when he found he had no hair. His hand was long fingered, green and webbed – and he was secreting some sort of _slime_.

"Mel!" he shouted, panicking. What the hell was going on?

"Ven?" she groaned from nearby.

Ven found he had to hop to reach her, and he stared dumbstruck into a broken mirror still set in its frame against the wall of a building. He was a _frog_. And when Mel sat up, blinking in the light, he saw that she was too.

"Mel!" he said. "Look at us!"

"Huh?" she turned around in a daze and her jaw dropped. It was unmistakeably _Mel_, even if she looked like a frog, had no hair, clothes or armour. It was the same eyes, the same expression, and something about the shape of the head and face echoed her as a human. "Ven! What happened to you!"

"To _us_!" he said, grabbing her by what should have been her shoulders and wheeling her around to look in the mirror.

Mel took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did she gasped and hopped backwards with a strangled yelp. "What happened to us?!" she said desperately, creeping forward again to get a better look. "What do we do? We're frogs!"

"Calm down," Ven said, not at all convincing either of them. "We need to find Aqua! Yen Sid gave her that book on higher advanced magicks. She'll know what to do!"

Mel raised both her hands, sitting back on her hind legs, but nothing happened. "Ven, I can't summon my keyblade!" she said, stricken. "What do we do? Can you cast any magic?"

Ven tried, and to his dismay he failed. "We're sitting ducks out here!"

"What should we do?"

"Find Aqua. She or Master Yen Sid will know how to fix this. C'mon!"

They hopped side by side to the end of the alleyway, back towards the main streets to the festival where Aqua had been, but they were pulled up short by a dog that appeared around the corner, and snarled at them before barking loudly and charging. With an agility cultivated to avoid getting trampled by Leo, they dodged out of the way and retreated, but they had to go back the way they had come, and further away from Aqua and Terra. The dog chased them all the way to the end of the alley, and Mel called to Ven before diving into the river. He followed quickly, to avoid the gnashing teeth of the dog, and they quickly slipped into the current that carried them away from the town.

Eventually they ended up in the swamp, and regrouped to think about what to do next.

"But…why _frogs_?" Ven couldn't get his mind around it.

"Could have been worse." Mel said quietly.

"How? How could this be worse?" Ven demanded. He wanted to shake her!

"Could have been slugs." She said, face blank but eyes sparkling with humour.

They both laughed, the tension suddenly eased. "Yeah, I guess so. But it still makes me wonder," he said as they set off side by side along a log.

"Frog medicine," she smiled at his groan. "Is to do with cleansing."

"How's that? Look at us! We're covered in slime!"

"Actually," Mel said, pausing in her forward march to pinch her skin and pull a long and slimy gossamer thread from it. "It's mucus."

"Same difference!" Ven whined, so not in the mood for a lecture. Aqua was going to chew his ears off for this when she caught them…

"Actually, it's a big difference." Mel said in her half vague tone. "Frogs secrete mucus to-"

"That's great Mel, but let's leave the biology lesson for another time, okay? Let's find a way back and tell Aqua what happened. She needs to know about that man and the heartless,"

"Okay." Mel nodded.

They both jumped as a trio of screams pierced the air not too far away from their position, through the trees – and it was followed by an oh so familiar roar.

"Leo!" Mel cried, bouncing like a rubber ball as she hopped towards the source of the sound, Ven hot on her heels.

Leo was sat back on his haunches, wide-eyed and uncertain of what to do as the large and amply built alligator squealed with fear and tried to hide under a log. He reached forward to sniff the air before backing off, as if unsure how to approach the creature.

"Leo!" Mel called again, bounding up to him without a trace of fear. Before, the risk of getting stepped on extended to bruises and the possibility that a bone _might_ get broken if he fell on them heavily, which had yet to actually happen. But now Mel was much smaller and decidedly more delicate – she could be crushed. And would Leo even be able to recognise them like this anyway?

"Mel, wait! Stop! It's too dangerous! He could step on you!"

Mel didn't listen; she hopped up another log and onto the branch of a tree that had partially capsized into the water below. She came to the level of his eyes and sat up, waving her hands. "Leo! It's me! Look up!"

Leo's head snapped up and he searched for the sound before he locked onto the frog sat on the tree. He jumped and yelped before roaring with confusion, trying to scare the thing that spoke like Mel away. When it didn't retreat he scuttled forward, nostrils flaring; he sniffed at her, took a closer look, and then stuck his long tongue out to gently touch her nose.

"Leo, it's me! Mel! A man commanding the heartless turned us both into frogs!"

Leo croaked and then said her name, very carefully lifting her off the tree and into the palm of his paws, looking as stunned as Ven had felt. He saw the other small frog and waded over, walking awkwardly on his hind legs before carefully putting Mel on his back so he could stand on all fours.

"Please!" the alligator screamed as Ven was greeted happily. "Don't eat me! I'm too young to die!"

Leo raised an eyebrow at him, but Mel jumped from his back and hopped over to the cowering alligator. "Please don't be afraid," she said kindly. "Leo is a friend of ours. He won't hurt you,"

The alligator lowered the hands he was hiding behind and gave her a terrified look before relaxing a little. "Hey there, lemme guess," he said in a drawl. "You were human and all too?"

"How'd you know?" Ven asked, hopping down beside Mel, with Leo following cautiously.

"Seems that shadow man's been busy lately! Hey! Tiana, Naveen! Come look at this!"

From behind him, two more frogs appeared, one smaller than the other, and both looking wide eyed and fearfully up at Leo, who sat down and tried to make himself as small as possible and less threatening. If Ven had thought he was big before, he was positively _humongous_ now.

"What happened to you?" one of the frogs said. She sounded like a young woman, with a kind and gentle voice.

"Dunno," Ven said sadly. "We were chasing heartless and this man jumped us. When we woke up, we were like this."

"Ah!" said the other frog, with a foreign accent. "Zat is what happened to us! My friends," he stood up on his hind legs and walked towards them much the same way a human would, hands held out in friendship. "Tell me, what are your names?"

"I'm Ventus. But call me Ven," he nodded to Mel. "This is my friend Mel. And this is Leo," he pointed at the beast that towered over them, watching intently. "What about you?"

"I!" the frog said, with a twirl of his hand and an elaborate bow. "Am Prince _Naveen_. Crown Prince of Maldonia!"

The other frog rolled her eyes and folded her arms, looking annoyed.

"What about you?" Mel asked politely.

"My name is Tiana." She said warmly, giving Mel a smile.

"So, you used to be human too?" Ven asked. "What happened?"

"The voodoo Shadow Man did!" the alligator said theatrically.

"Oh, you haven't introduced yourself," Mel said brightly, and the alligator puffed his chest out with pride.

"I'm Louis! The best jazz player in the bayou!"

"Pleased to meet ya!" Ven grinned, warming to Louis instantly.

"Are you headed to see Mama Odie too?" Louis asked eagerly, peering at them closely.

"Who?" they both asked blankly.

"Oh, she's very powerful!"

"She can turn us back into humans," Tiana explained.

"We were on our way to find her," Naveen added. "Won't you come join us?" he offered.

Mel and Ven exchanged looks. "Okay then. Is it far? Only we've got friends back in town who'll be wondering where we are soon." He told them.

"Oh, it's not far at all!" Louis insisted happily. "Let's all go together!"

Mel murmured something in Leo's ear, and he nodded vigorously. "Leo's happy for us all to travel on his back. It should make the going easier, and the heartless won't be able to attack so easily."

After a moment of contemplation and council, the three travellers piled onto the dragon's back with them, and they set off through the still waters of the bayou in the direction Louis pointed them in.

"I wonder if Aqua and Terra are looking for us yet?" Ven wondered dully out loud.

"I'm sure they are." Mel bit her lip. "Oh, I hate making Aqua worry!"

"She'll always find something to worry about," Ven smiled at the thought. "Even when there's nothing wrong!"

"I don't like making her upset," Mel said in a small voice.

"At least she cares enough to worry,"

"I never said she didn't."

"Calm down," Ven told her, though she was clearly already calm – just stating the facts. "But I just know she'll skin us alive when she finds us,"

XOXOX

"Anything?" Aqua asked desperately as Terra made his way through the crowd. He shook his head, and she barely hid her sigh of dismay. "Where could they be?" she asked, casting another glance around the square.

"Hey, they might have just gone back to check on Leo. You never know," he said with little conviction. They had agreed to let each other know if they were going to split off like that – Mel would never have run off willingly without telling one of them first, and she had enough control over Ven to keep him mostly in check. In short, something must have happened.

"I'm worried about the festival." Aqua said, brow creased. "So many people, so much light…it's going to be irresistible for the heartless. I can sense shadows stalking that man and his daughter we saw in the café – someone needs to stay here and keep an eye on things. But we can't leave Mel and Ven alone, if something's happened to them."

They both stood in tense silence, thinking it through while the revellers continued to gear up for their festival.

"How about, if you stay here to watch the celebrations and keep an eye on things, and I'll go check the swamp? Leo's in there, and its the only place we haven't checked yet. Even if I can't find them, Leo's bound to be able to sniff them out." Aqua looked wound up and upset, but she saw the sense in what he was saying and nodded. He gave her a hug and said, "I'll bring them both back, one way or another."

They wished each other luck before they parted ways, and Terra trudged head first into the swamp just outside the town. It was hot, wet, muggy, fly infested, _disgusting_, and thoroughly unpleasant to stand in. He ended up knee deep in the murky water, shooting warning shots of magic at the crocodiles that came up to snap at his legs, sending them away disgruntled and hungry. After a while of fruitless searching, Terra filled his lungs and cupped her hands to his mouth before bellowing for Leo. His voice echoed across the bayou, but nothing returned his call.

"Where are you?" he muttered to no one, wondering why Leo wasn't responding. They had a good relationship, but it was pretty clear that Leo would chose Aqua over him if he had to follow one to the edge of the universe. Still, Leo didn't go out of his way to be a royal pain the same way he did to Lea; he should have responded to Terra's call if he could hear it.

By the time it was starting to get dark Terra was verging on a panic attack. There were signs that Leo had come through here, but no sign of Mel or Ven. What the hell could have happened to them?

"YEEEEARGH!"

Terra jumped out of his skin and spun round, keyblade at the ready, but he needn't have bothered. A small rowing boat flew past with three men on it, screaming for dear life. "DEMON FROGS!" one of them yelled – at least that's what it sounded like… Terra watched in amazement as they shot by and disappeared into the gloom, still shrieking with terror.

Demon frogs…?

Terra turned round and headed in the direction they had come from, crashing through the undergrowth that grew in the waterlogged terrain, searching for heartless. He broke through onto some more solid ground, bringing down dead brush from an old tree as he went.

Someone else screamed and dived into the nearby water. "They're back!" the voice cried, and Terra just had enough time to see a scaly tail whip out of sight.

"Stand back, fair maidens!" said someone else, and to his immense surprise a _frog_ hopped over to Terra's boot and struck a pose, puffing out his chest. "I'll handle zis!"

"Terra!" Mel shouted, though he couldn't see her anywhere. But then Leo pounced, squealing with delight, and he couldn't see much anyway.

"Gah! Leo!" Terra said, struggling to get up as the great, feathered beast fussed over him. He laughed and pushed his muzzle out of the way. "I'm glad to see you too!"

"Terrahhh!" Leo rumbled, tail thumping against the ground.

"Terra!"

"Ven!" he pushed Leo out of the way and scrambled to his feet. There was no one in the clearing but him, the frog, and Leo. "Where are you!"

Another frog bounced into the circle of light cast by a tiny fire, and sat up, looking at him in earnest. "Terra! It's me!"

Terra's jaw dropped. "_Ven_?" he asked incredulously, slowly getting down on his knees to get a better look. "Is that _you_?"

"Terra! I'm so glad to see you!"

"But…_what_…?"

"We chased some heartless in town, but this guy followed them and put this spell on us! And we're not the only ones!" he pointed at the other frog, who looked angry for being sent flying with Leo's enthusiastic greeting. "Naveen and Tiana have been cursed too!"

Terra gently cupped his hands and put them on the ground so Ven could hop on, and slowly brought the frog closer for inspection. It was a frog; long limbed, somewhat slimy, green skinned, smooth and hairless. But it was unmistakeably Ventus – the same sky blue eyes, the same expression, and even something in the shape of the skull and face hinted at Ven's, something familiar. A slightly darker patch of skin on his back was shaped vaguely like a wind blown leaf.

"But _how_…?" he asked weakly, dumbstruck. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" it would have been funny if he hadn't been so worried about them. "Mel," he looked up to find two more frogs hopping out of the shadows, one of them with deep green eyes. She bounded over to him without hesitation while the other frog hung back uncertainly, and hopped up onto his hand beside Ven; her patches were soft spirals of a slightly paler shade than the rest of her body. "You too?"

"It's my fault." She said pensively. "I sneezed and the voodoo man commanding the heartless caught us."

"Yeah," Ven went on as his usual self, as if he wasn't fazed by being a frog. "Apparently Mel's allergic to dust mites! That guy _really_ needs to clean his place out,"

"That's very low down on the list of priorities," Mel said evenly. "I don't think it should really be on the list at the moment at all."

Terra laughed unexpectedly at the almost argument, and then it suddenly hit him.

Ven was a _frog_!

"Sorry!" he giggled as he sat down cross-legged on the ground. "Just the way you two are acting…haha!"

"Oh shut up," Ven snapped, giving him a filthy look that was just so hilarious coming from the face of a frog. "Terra!" he tried to pummel his arm, but it was no use.

"Umm…" the other frog carefully crept up and gave Terra a surreptitious look. "You mind introducing us to your friend here?" she asked politely.

"Hey," the other one with the foreign sounding accent said. "Where did Louis go?"

In answer, Leo plodded over to the water's edge and stuck his head under the surface before he came up again, dragging the crocodile with him.

"Please!" the crocodile begged, sobbing. "Don't eat meeeee!"

"It is okay, Louis. Zis man is a friend, yes?"

"Yeah! Guys, this is our friend Terra. And this is Louis," he nodded to the crocodile, who smiled impishly and waved his fingers at them. "Tiana, and Naveen-"

"_Prince!_" the frog stood up straight like a human, rubbing his knuckles fastidiously against his collarbone and closing his eyes to assume a dignified pose. "Prince Naveen, of _Maldonia_. _Thank_ you."

"Sorry." Ven shrugged unrepentantly. "And that's-! Hey, where'd he go?"

Terra yelped as something flew into his face and buzzed loudly, a small light flashing in his vision as a voice in a thick accent hurled insults and threats.

"No, Ray!" Mel called. "He's a friend!"

"Ain't no cotton pickin' ingrate gon hurt mah _friends_-!"

"Ray!"

Ven jumped and managed to catch the thing that was buzzing in Terra's face, and landed gracefully on the ground again. "Ray, this is my friend Terra. The one I told you about remember? Mel and I have been gone all day and he came to look for us, like I said he would. Remember?"

"Oh!"

Terra wasn't sure if he was seeing and hearing things, but not only had he been speaking to four frogs and a crocodile, he as now also speaking to a firefly.

"I do apologise!" now the insect wasn't buzzing irately at him, he could see clearly. "Mah name is Ray, partner! I'm a'leadin' this here expodition to Mama Odie's."

"To where?" Terra asked, Ven and Mel hopping onto his knee.

"She's the voodoo queen of the bayou!" Louis said happily, nodding his head.

"She can help us lift this curse." Tiana added.

Terra took a moment to digest everything he had just learnt. It was…certainly a lot to wrap his mind around. "Aqua's gonna be worried." He stated bluntly, looking down at Ven. "You two just disappeared without a trace,"

"We got turned into frogs!" Ven shouted indignantly.

"And then a dog tried to eat us," Mel added. "We jumped in the river to get away, and ended up in the swamp. Then we found Leo and the others,"

"Can this…Mama Odie really help you?"

Ven shrugged, a touch of worriment coming into his eyes. "If she can't, who can?"

Terra considered that while Tiana busied herself with something that looked like cooking by the tiny fire he had noticed before. "Aqua's been reading that book Master Yen Sid gave her. Maybe it has something in it about lifting curses?"

"I hope so." Ven sagged with a sigh and stared glumly at the ground.

"Cheer up," Mel gave him a nudge and smiled. "I _know_ so."

"Excuse me? Mr Terra, sir?" Tiana carefully hopped back over to him, with a bowl made out of a hollowed out piece of wood that looked as though Leo had been at it with his claws. "We have a lil'bit of swamp gumbo left over if you want some,"

Terra was pleasantly surprised, and accepted the bowl gratefully. "Thanks!" it was absolutely _delicious_, and since he was hungry and hadn't been expecting food, it was all the more wonderful.

"Terra's a cook, too." Mel said as she helped Tiana clear up. "When you get your restaurant you could swap recipes."

"Well that sounds like a swell idea!"

"Guess we should get some rest," Ven yawned widely.

"What for?" Terra asked, scratching Leo's neck.

"Well, we've gotta go find this voodoo woman to lift the spell. Ray says it's not too far now, but we should get some rest. Won't do any good if we fall unconscious on her doorstep, will it?"

"But what about Aqua? She'll be really worried when none of us come back. She's probably worried sick by now!"

Ven's face fell, and they both sat in contemplative silence until Mel hopped over with a thick piece of bark about twice her size and a stick of charcoal from the fire. "Leo could fly back with a message. It's dark, so he won't be seen by many people, and the main Mardi Gras festival is tomorrow night so he'll miss all the excitement, and Aqua's probably still awake wondering where we are so she won't miss him when he goes looking for her."

They stared at her in amazement – she had just solved the communication dilemma, and most of the problems that it could cause, in one go.

"Great idea!" Ven hopped on the spot with joy while Terra quickly took the writing materials and wrote out a note to Aqua to let her know they were all still alive and looking for help from a local to a small 'problem'. He didn't think she needed to know just yet about the whole frog thing; this Mama Odie could have them back in no time before Aqua found out.

"Leo," he said, wrapping the bark in some large leaves and tying it with some knotted creeping vines. The dragon sauntered over and sat down expectantly, having listened to Mel's suggestion already. "You know what to do?" Terra asked, tying it to his collar carefully. "Find Aqua and give her this. And stay out of sight,"

Leo licked his face warmly and gave him a dragon hug before he crept off into the gathering night. Terra was glad that Aqua would know they were safe, but it suddenly struck him that without Leo around he wouldn't have a comfortable night. Resigning himself to a cold and damp sleep, he bundled some leaves and mosses together to make a mattress, after checking them for biting insects and spiders. Mel and Ven hopped over and curled up beside him without a second thought, and soon the other two joined them, and lastly Louis splayed himself alongside them against Terra's back before snoring loudly.

"Good night, Evangeline!" Ray said, waving at the sky as he flew through the air above them.

"Who's he talking to?" Terra asked, propping his head up on his hand with his elbow braced against the ground.

"Oh, zat." Naveen closed his eyes with a smile and snuggled down against Terra's shirt. "He thinks ze evening star is his girlfriend, is all."

"That's odd, though," Mel said sleepily. "I always thought there were two stars up there – it's like one's missing."

"Don't think so," Naveen said offhandedly.

Ray floated down to settle in with them for the night, and before long and despite the discomfort of the hard ground and no blanket or pillow, Terra found himself drifting off quickly to sleep.

XOXOX

Aqua was alerted to a disturbance when she heard something in an alley topple over; she had napped on and off all that afternoon and was spending a large portion of the night patrolling the streets. When Terra failed to turn up after darkness fell, she started to wonder whether she should go look for him, but the sporadic bouts of heartless (some looking like very deformed dolls, for some inexplicable reason) she had forced herself to stay put. He'd said he'd bring them back, didn't he?

Something crashed again, and Aqua eased herself into the alley, holding her keyblade aloft. The yelp was familiar, and she nearly dropped it in her astonishment.

"Leo!"

He scuttled forward when she spoke and licked her face happily, cooing her name. He then dropped close to the ground on all fours, tail thumping, and twisted his neck around to display his collar, and a small leaf covered package attached to it. Bemused, Aqua scratched his neck and removed the package; it was mostly flat, and felt hard beneath the leaves that were wrapped around it.

"Terrahh." Leo said, nosing at her hands.

Aqua's eyes widened and she ripped the leaves from what turned out to be a section of bark from a tree. Written in smudged charcoal on the smoother inside section was a message written in his neat and not so diminutive shorthand.

Found Ven + Mel, & some other people needing help. Gone to find voodoo woman to lift a spell – everyone is FINE. Will be back , take care, T.

Aqua heaved a great sigh of relief and held the bark to her chest. So they were all right, and obviously low on writing materials. Maybe that was something they needed to consider in future missions…but it was a good idea to send Leo, who could travel faster, even if it left them without his protection and body heat.

Speaking of which…

Aqua smiled and led Leo to a place just on the outskirts of town, where it was moderately clean and they settled down for the night. She felt a little guilty as she snuggled up against his soft warm feathers and felt his wings engulf them in a warm darkness of security – thinking of the others in the middle of a dank swamp.

"Just us tonight," she said, rubbing his belly.

Leo crooned happily and curled himself around her, his chest vibrating with the sound.

XOXOX

"Kyo, dear boy, what on earth are you doing?" Ansem asked, surprised to find Kyo up so late. It was nearly midnight, and Kyo never functioned well if he hadn't had exactly nine hours of sleep – whatever could be keeping him up this late? He was always in bed by half nine, and usually asleep before ten.

"Something weird happened," he said, yawning before he shuffled over to the bench Ansem was working at and perched on the end, running his fingers through his messy copper coloured hair. "I couldn't sleep so I was reading that comic book Joey leant me, and then a lot of really weird things were happening and I saw all these different animals I thought I'd ask Mel about when she next visits, and then there was this _really big_ shadow on the ground around me, and then I woke up and realised I'd been asleep so I got up and went for a walk outside," he bit his lip, clearly troubled by something. "And I thought I saw my cousin out there."

Ansem raised his eyebrows. Kyo had something of an over active imagination, which was part of how he managed to come up with ingenious ideas and make great leaps and scientific connections in his reasoning. It did however, mean that he put a lot of stock in his often vivid dreams, which his sister had tried to explain many times before was not a good thing. Mel was of the opinion that you shouldn't try to read too much into dreams and the signs you see around you, because it would drive you quickly insane with the sheer volume of material to work with.

"Are you quite sure that's what you saw?"

Kyo shrugged, troubled. "No. It was like, for just a second. And the dream I had was so real I was surprised when I woke up and found nothing there. I wanted to talk to Mel about it, but she said she's away for a few days." He drooped at the thought.

Ansem took a sheaf of paper and a pencil from the spread of things on the desk and gave them to Kyo. "Write down as much as you can remember now so you won't forget. Then you can tell your sister when you next see her,"

"Okay!" he sat and thought long and hard before he wrote out reams of notes about his dream.

By the time Ansem had finished what he was doing and checked on the boy, Kyo had slumped against the table top and was fast asleep, face down in his notes. He couldn't help but chuckle, and gave the boy a fond smile before he gently lifted him from the seat and carried him back to his room. Kyo was slender and long limbed, but he was surprisingly lightweight; it was no trouble at all to carry him. After he had been safely deposited in bed, Ansem quietly closed the door and continued down the corridor, musing to himself about what Kyo had seen. A movement at one of the windows caught his eye, and he slowly walked over to get a closer look.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, except a few streetlights outside were broken and not working so the shadows appeared deeper than usual. The odd heartless that escaped the patrols was not uncommon, and was usually discovered and quickly dispatched, and was as far as most people were concerned of little cause for alarm. But the thing that now caught Ansem's interest wasn't a lone heartless scampering for cover; two people, cloaked in dark clothes, were skirting the lighted street below. He carefully noted their appearance (what little could be seen), estimated their height, and made a mental note of the direction they had come from and the direction they were headed. By the stealthy way they were moving, though the one behind seemed to be dragging their feet, they were trying not to be seen – not something you could blame a person when out at night in heartless territory.

Early that following morning Ansem was talking to Leon about what had happened that night, and was surprised by the grim expression his words imprinted on the man's face.

"What is it?"

"We found something strange when we were out tracking last night. Down by the Great Maw," Leon handed him a slip of paper with a photograph printed on it, of a set of foot prints in the dusty earth beside a pair of boots that looked remarkably like Cloud's. "There was some kind of animal out there," Leon said tensely. "Its eyes reflected the light from our torches. Not like a heartless or a nobody."

Ansem nodded; most heartless had eyes that glowed in the dark, and with most lesser nobodies it was very hard to tell where the eyes were, if they were present at all. And of both creatures, none were known to have eyes that reflected light like a deer, or a cat's.

"Interesting…" Ansem said heavily, looking at the impressions in the dirt of the picture. It looked like a large felid of some description, but he couldn't be sure… "I have some news as well," he explained what Kyo had told him last night, and described the two figures he had seen skulking around in the dark.

Leon was clearly upset by the turn of events, but he kept it closely in check. "We'll go take a look," he said eventually.

"And I shall take Kyo down to have a closer look at those foot prints. You never know, he may find something you missed."

Leon smiled suddenly and allowed himself a chuckle. "That boy…he's a wonder."

"Yes, he does have a gift for seeing what other's have missed. I should probably go check on him now,"

Kyo was a bit sleepy, but he perked right up at the prospect of going on a field trip. They made a day of it, and sure enough the boy did spot what everyone else had over looked that night – heartless footprints jumbled with the distinctly cat-like ones, and evidence of something being dragged along the ground in their midst. Ansem would never have found them if Kyo hadn't investigated a recent rockslide, which had partially covered the tracks; after a closer inspection of the ridge above, it was considered plausible that the slide had been triggered deliberately, though it could not be definitively proven. Ansem was just about to call Kyo back so they could go home, when he dashed off without warning across the Great Maw, disappearing in a haze of dust. When he came back, he was holding something wrapped in the sleeve of his knitted cardigan.

"What do you have there, Kyo?"

"Something _weird_." He pulled a face and raised his arm to wave his hand around. "I saw it glinting in the sun. But…it doesn't _look_ like anything _I've_ ever seen before."

It was a small stone, smooth and perfectly oval, if a bit flat – there was a single fracture from one end, extending almost to the middle, but it didn't seem to run very deeply.

The stone was…odd. It was black, but…_not_ black. It had an almost oily sheen to it that gave it an eerie, flat sort of depth. It was almost like the sunlight itself was being absorbed.

"Do you know what it is?" Kyo asked, poking at it tentatively before recoiling with a shudder.

"I have never seen it's like before," Ansem said thoughtfully, turning it over in his hands. It was somewhat uncomfortable to handle against his bare skin, so he wrapped it in a handkerchief instead. "Where did you find this?"

Kyo showed him; more jumbles of footprints, although there were definitely some deliberate attempts to cover them up here. A withered branch from a tree, and a stick had been left lying around after they had been used to scour some of the tracks away. But not all – some older ones had escaped obliteration, and a few newer ones had been made over the top after whoever had attempted to clean up had departed.

As they went back up to the town, Ansem decided to instigate a curfew if these sightings and findings continued to occur. It didn't seem particularly safe to be out with these odd things happening, that could not easily be explained. And this stone…he had never come across anything quite like it in all of his wanderings.

What on earth was going on?

XOXOX

"I hate early mornings…" Ven muttered to himself.

The sky was that depressing deep grey that preceded dawn – still dark and incredibly gloomy. Luckily, not everyone felt that miserable this morning.

"What, you woke up on the wrong side of the lily pad?" Terra asked innocently. He laughed when Mel rolled her eyes and turned her back on him with quiet dignity, and Ven went ballistic – to no effect whatsoever. He had threatened so far to whack Terra with his elongated tongue, but when challenged to do so he had chickened out. Something about not wanting to get his 'germs' on him…

"We have to get goin'," Tiana said decisively, hopping along after Ray and Louis.

"Umm…" Mel sat back on her hind legs and frowned, looking around them. "We're a head short. Did you see where Naveen went?"

"Nope," Ven said, bounding past and ignoring Terra completely.

"I'm sure he hasn't _croaked_ yet," he sniggered.

Tiana gave him a disparaging look, Ven groaned loudly and said, "I'm disinheriting you!" but Mel gave him a calm, tranquil look that could have been hiding any number of emotions.

"Given the present circumstances, that joke is in quite poor taste. And also, I had come to expect a higher quality of humour from you Terra. I'm thoroughly disappointed."

"Oh no!" Terra said, grinning as he bent down to hold out his hands for her to hop on. "I can't have you disappointed with me!" his head snapped up suddenly when he heard a cry for help in a familiar voice.

"Tiana!"

"Naveen!?" she shouted in response, streaking off after the voice.

"What is it?" Terra called, dumping Mel on his shoulder before he tore off at a fast pace after her. Ven hopped up onto Louis' back, and the crocodile scrambled after them.

Shadows, not heartless but…just shadows, dark flickering shapes flew across the ground with no entity above that cast them; they had grabbed Naveen by what appeared to be his own shadow, but was carrying him through the air. And then the heartless did come – misshapen doll like creatures, and a few that resembled floating masks, all in garish and sickly looking patterns and colours. Mel and Ven couldn't summon any magic, or their Keyblades – Terra could have done with their help, or even Leo, but there was no time to worry about that now. He hacked and slashed his way through with Louis while Mel and Ven went on ahead, slipping through the heartless' ranks to help Tiana.

"There's too many!" Terra said, trying to find a break in their lines.

"We're done for!" Louis cried, falling to the ground in surrender and covering his head with his hands.

A streaking tendril of light shot out of no where and hit one of the shadows that had captured Naveen, right before another one lanced through the crowd of heartless. The ones that were not struck down either run away into the bayou or disappeared in a sudden flare of dark energy into the Corridors of Darkness. Yet more bolts of light appeared to destroy the creeping shadow spectres, and Terra dashed towards the edge of the water where the others were congregated. Naveen was in the water, staring at the same thing the others were – a huge hulking shadow that appeared out of the morning mist.

Terra held his breath, and started when a rather weak laugh reached them, and suddenly a very short, dark skinned woman wearing a white robe and bearing a club that had a flame licking from its end came into sight. She chuckled to herself with glee, spinning the club around deftly in her hand.

"Not bad for a hundred-and-ninety-seven-year-old blind lady!"

She blew the flame out, and left them in comparative darkness.

"Now, which one of you naughty kiddy's been messin' with the Shadow Man?" she demanded, looking incredibly sternly at them.

It made Terra jumped and look again. He felt like a young apprentice again under the stern stare of his Master, in trouble for something.

Louis, stock still, raised his hand jerkily and pointed at Naveen, who smiled sheepishly. Ven looked at Mel, who shrugged helplessly; it hadn't been their messing around with the man, per se that got them into this mess…

"Well, come on!" the woman said impatiently. "Follow me! But stick _close_. No tellin' when those monsters'll come back, see? Move it!" she had stumped over to them and started prodding Terra with her club. "Move it, boy!"

Bemused, Terra let the little old lady cajole him into following her, giving the frogs and the firefly something to sit on (namely his shoulders) while Louis walked by his side. She took them to an enormous tree in the middle of a waterway, where a boat was for some inexplicable reason perched amid the huge and sturdy branches. Once inside, the woman threw her club carelessly aside, and continued to stump on ahead, apparently ignoring Tiana as she tried to talk to her to ask for help. Terra took a moment to take stock of the walls and the shelves, covered in all manner of probably useful objects stored in boxes and bottles.

"This is so different to that other voodoo place," Ven said, hopping along on the floor.

Mel followed and said, "Two sides of the same coin. Not all practitioners of magic, of _any_ kind, are the same. Some are really nice, and others…not so much."

"Juju!" the woman called in a shrill voice, and a huge yellowish-green python appeared out of nowhere from the rafters, making them all jump. "Come on over here, you bad boy," she crooned, as if to a favourite pet. It was the sort of teasing tone they took with Leo. After hugs and kisses with her beloved snake, the woman straightened him out and used him like a walking cane to guide herself clumsily across the room. "Heh," she smiled and looked over her shoulder, still not heeding Tiana's questions. "Good to see you again Ray. How's your grandma?"

Terra couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Was this the woman Louis had talked about? He could see Ven trying to exchange looks with Mel, but she was watching the old lady closely with focused intent.

"Oh, she's fine." Ray said pleasantly, and with a laugh went on, "Got in a lil trouble for flashing the neighbours again!"

"Oooh, I like that girl's spunk!" she giggled to herself. Then she suddenly changed her demeanour and ran to a large bathtub in the corner that was bubbling, shrieking, "Juju! Why didn't you tell me my gumbo was burnin'?"

Louis turned to his firefly friend and said in a flowing rush, "You _sure_ this is the right blind voodoo lady who lives in the boat in the tree in the bayou?"

Ray shrugged. "Pretty sure,"

Tiana again tried to speak to the woman, and again was brushed off. Terra was starting to wonder if she was going to help at all, or if she was going to _be_ helpful even if she tried. The lady asked Tiana's opinion on her gumbo after force-feeding her a mouthful, and she made a suggestion that the woman put into action, shouting for the snake who added the two splashes of Tabasco that had been suggested, and the woman tasted it before shrieking with glee over the results.

Terra carefully plucked Ven and Mel from the floor. This woman was clearly crazy – he would say his goodbyes, wish the others luck, and go back to the city to find Aqua.

"Here, son!" she crowed before Terra could move, shoving a spoon into his mouth. "I guess that's what we needed. What you think?"

"It tastes great," Terra said with a smile. "But I really think we need to-"

"Bah!" she grabbed him by the ear and led him with surprising strength back to the bathtub. "Now then. Have y'all figured out what you _need_ yet?"

Tiana was starting to lose her patience, that much was obvious, but she kept her cool. "It's just like you said, Mama Odie. We need to be human."

"Ha!" she bellowed, making both her and Naveen fall over, startled; Tiana nearly pitched straight into the tub, but Naveen pulled her back to her feet. "Y'all want to be human," she said more calmly, though Terra was trying to prepare himself for the next unexpected outburst. "But you're _blind_ to what you _need_," she moved her hands for emphasis of particular words.

"What we want, what we need – is all the same thing, yes?" Naveen said rather flippantly. "Ouch!"

Mama Odie dealt him a cuff to the head. "It's the same thing? No!"

Terra raised an eyebrow at Mel's smile. "What's that look for?"

"She's incredibly wise." Mel said softly.

"She's crazy." Ven muttered to himself.

"Perfect genius requires a touch of madness." Mel reasoned.

"It don't matter what you look like," Mama Odie was telling them all. "Don't matter how much jewellery you wear, or _any_thin' like that! Not what you wear, where y'all come from, or even what you _are_. I get all sorts comin' here, askin' me to do somethin' for'em. And ya know what I told them? What I'm about to tell you kids! You gotta dig a little deeper! You have t'find out who you are before you can know what it is that you need. Now!" she barked, descending upon Naveen. "You were a rich lil'boy, weren't ya? And that's want you want again. Well, did all that make you happy before? No!" she turned to Tiana. "And you child – you're a hard you ain't ya? Well, your daddy was a lovin' man, family through and through. So naturally what he had, you got in ya too!" she patted her quite gently on the head before moving on. "And you, gator. You want to play jazz music with the big boys, right?" Louis nodded vigorously. "Well, all you need is talent for music, which you already have, boy!" then she turned and stumped over to Terra, with Mel and Ven perched on his shoulders. "Oh, and don't even get me _started_ on you three! Every dang year I get you warriors of the keyblade traipsin' around this bayou lookin' for my magic!" she regarded them all closely, and Terra was suddenly aware that she was testing their auras – this woman may be batty, but she was certainly on the ball when it came to the world of magic and energy.

"Well, I think y'all got a good idea what you need already. But I think I'll just give you a lil'reminder, to be sure,"

XOXOX

In the middle of a fancy dress parade, blending it was pretty easy for Aqua with her strange clothes and bright hair, though she made Leo stay away. She was slowly perfecting the art of magical camouflage, but she didn't trust her skills just yet to maintain a spell for that long and watch out for heartless at the same time. She had spent all day preparing for the worst case scenario, and had a line up of spells both offensive and curative just in case, and as night began to fall the tension started to mount more noticeably.

Everything…_seemed_ to be in order, at least so far. Aqua couldn't help but shake the feeling that it was all about to kick off. Then tension was just reaching fever pitch when there was a commotion in the main parade; she had been patrolling the crowds watching, and doubled back to see what was going on. The man everyone had been talking about, a prince from a far away country, who had been having his marriage ceremony during the parade (for some bizarre reason…) was running away towards a building tucked away from the main street. There was a scuffle going on as his bride to be rushed after him, and not long after he left a tall, slender, unpleasant looking man came running out into the street and raised his hand; suddenly heartless sprang up all over the street, as well as a multitude of shadowed beings that flickered across the surface of everything; buildings, walls, the ground, even the people congregated for the parade.

It was the signal Aqua had been waiting for all day. She summoned her keyblade and ran head first into the screaming crowd, but something caught her by the throat and threw her to the ground, wringing the breath from her lungs though she couldn't see anything, except a flickering shadowy form on her chest that had no solid object to cast it. Something flashed through the air and momentarily blinded her, but the pressure of her throat eased and she rolled onto her side before staggering to her knees.

"Aqua!"

"Terra?" she didn't realise he was there until he was beside her, helping her to her feet and shoving a potion into her hand. "Where did you come from?"

"No time to explain," he raised his keyblade above his head and a huge ball of bright energy gathered at the end, which discharged with a soundless explosion that chased all the shadowy demons out of the vicinity. "Now, Ray! Go!" he shouted, and a small orb of light bearing a strange looking necklace zoomed out of the fray and into a darkened alleyway nearby.

"What was that?" Aqua asked, lifting her weapon to block an attack from a heartless as it charged.

"I'll fill you in later," he promised, hacking at a supernaturally enormous Large Body heartless.

Just as it looked as though they were going to be overrun completely Aqua raised a hand to her mouth and blew as loud a whistle as she could, hoping Leo would be able to hear. Her prayers were answered and she heard his roar long before she saw him; any people left on the streets who hadn't retreated yet screamed as they saw the dragon bearing down apparently upon them, and made a mad dash to escape. Aqua grabbed Terra's arm and forced him down just as Leo rounded the corner and bounded over them, crashing into the ranks of heartless lined up against him and scattered them in confusion. Aqua caught Terra's eye, and he nodded once before they split up to chase a larger heartless each around which the others were rallying. There was a flicker of movement as something black whipped around the corner of an alleyway, and Aqua tore after it. The figure jumped with alarm when she started to catch up, and made a run for it. She frowned with concentration before charging her keyblade with power and throwing it like a boomerang at the retreating figure. It was something she had only just read about, and she was pleased she had pulled the move off perfectly the first time in practise.

"Who are you?" she demanded, stalking over to the prone figure on the ground, groaning with pain. She bent down and grabbed the hood of their cloak before pulling. She gasped with surprise when a pair of all too familiar green eyes looked back up at her. "Tom?" she asked in disbelief. What was he doing here?

"Go away!" he shrieked, fighting to get to his feet and escape from her clutches.

"Wait!" she said, trying to grab his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Let me go!"

"No! Mel's been worried sick about you!" she insisted, trying to get through to him, but Tomasa wouldn't listen. "And Kyo as well, both of them. What are you _doing_ here?"

"Let me go, you have to! Please!" he was almost shot of her, nearly at the end of the alley, but Aqua put on an extra burst of speed to catch up to him. "You don't understand!" he shouted at her, and suddenly she noticed something in his hand; a black rock, with all the unnerving qualities of a black hole coalesced into a stone that sat in the palm of his hand.

Aqua opened her mouth to speak, to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing with one of those, when another figure, garbed in long, sweeping robes that at first appeared black but were actually exceptionally dark brown, appeared in the air above them and landed with unnerving grace on the ground between them. A heavy hood was pulled forward and shrouded the person's face, and behind them Tomasa tripped in his surprise at their entrance. The new comer raised their head, or at least that's what it looked like to Aqua, before lifting an arm and extending a hand clad in a thick leather glove.

The force of the spell that was cast wordlessly knocked Aqua off her feet, and she felt her head collide with something behind her painfully; stars were popping in her field of vision and she wasn't sure how much of what she could hear or see was true. When she saw Terra's anxious face and felt Leo's rough tongue on her cheek, she forced herself to sit up, feeling a wave of dizziness over take her.

"Aqua?" Terra asked frantically.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. "That hurt…"

XOXOX

Mel was agitated, to say the least; without magic, a keyblade, or even her ability to manipulate energy, she was about as useful as a dustpan at an earthquake. Ven had hung back to help Ray defend their flanks, and she had gone on with Tiana to give what little support she could. As the Shadow Man gained on them, they had prepared to destroy the amulet they had acquired, but the voodoo practitioner had another ace up his sleeve.

Mel stood in an illusion with Tiana, who was staring at the beautiful hall in which they apparently stood – they were both human again, and dressed in white finery; Mel wore a dress she had owned as a child, something she hadn't seen in years, but modified so that it fitted her as an adult where the original dress would have been far too small for her now. It must have been Tiana's dream that he was drawing on – Mel was even more upset when she turned around and saw Tom and Kyo sat at a table, wearing the sort of smart clothes her mother had forced them to wear at Christmas dinner and formal weddings; both of them waved at her with grins and tried to coax her over. But she closed her eyes and shook her head. No, Kyo was in Radiant Garden with Ansem, where he was safe, and God only knew where her cousin was. _It's an illusion_ she told herself sternly – she wouldn't let herself be tricked by something like this.

"Now, isn't this a whole lot better than hoppin' around a bayou for the rest of your life?" a voice purred, and both young women turned round to see the voodoo man advancing on them. "Gotta hand it to you, Tiana. When you dream, you dream big!" he turned to Mel, and waved his hand so that Kyo and Tom were suddenly stood either side of her, but she raised her arms and passed them through the vision as if they were made of smoke. "But I know where to find that there cousin of yours, girl." He smiled sweetly at her. "And I can make it so you never lose him again,"

"Your tricks won't work on me." Mel said defiantly, trying desperately to get a grip on her energy, lift a palling – _something_. But whatever the spell had done, or whatever he was weaving now, had completely disabled her powers.

"Well then," he turned to Tiana, clutching the necklace. She looked to Mel with wide eyes and Mel shook her head vigorously while mouthing, "_Don't_,"

The Shadow Man played on her emotions, reaching into her heart and plucking at the strings he found there. He talked about all the hard work she had put into raising the money for her restaurant, in the face of everyone who doubted her; Mel wanted to lash out at him when he dragged up Tiana's late father. That was low, using such tactics, and speaking down upon someone who clearly had had his priorities in order – from what Mel had managed to glean; Tiana's father had been an incredibly loving and loyal parent, and a hardworking man who provided for his family. She always bridled when family values were dragged through the mud, like this man was doing now, but Mel couldn't do anything; it had to be Tiana's choice.

"My Daddy never did get what he wanted." Tiana began, looking sad, but Mel was glad to see the defiance flare up in her as she advanced on Dr Facilier. "But he had what he needed! He had love. He never lost sight o' what was really important," she shook the amulet in her hand. She had taken Mama Odie's words deeply to heart.

"Easy with that!" he was angry, but there was a deep undercurrent of fear to his expression too. "Careful!"

"And neither will I!" Tiana made to throw the necklace to the ground, but his shadow caught it – completely separate and independent from him! – and suddenly the illusion disappeared. They were back in the graveyard, and were once again helpless frogs.

"Y'all should have taken my deal. Now you'll spend the rest of your life being a slimy little frog!" he said, crouching down with the talisman in one hand, and pining Tiana to the ground with his cane. Mel tried to go to her aid, but another of the shadowy demons caught her and held a tight grip, bodily lifting her off the ground and into the air, struggling in vain against invisible bonds.

"Mel!" Ven shouted, bounding onto the scene and heading straight for her.

"Help Tiana!" Mel insisted, struggling to get free.

"I got news for you, Shadow Man: it's not slime – it's mucus!" Tiana shouted, and quick as a flash she flung out her tongue to grab the amulet from his hand, in his surprise he raised the cane enough for her to wriggle out of range, and she stood up and smashed the amulet against the ground.

"No!" the man screamed, scrambling to reach for the broken pieces as Tiana bounced out of the way. "How am I ever gonna pay back my debt?"

There was a faint sound of drums playing, and a huge cracking noise that suddenly amplified the sound. Ven yelped, and Mel twisted around to see three, menacing and luridly painted masks that had burst through one of the head stones; they were singing a horrible base line to some song that filled Mel with dread.

"Friends!" Dr Facilier said with an unconvincing smile, his fear betrayed by his quaking knees.

The masks smiles malevolently, showing an array of sharp teeth before they sang a refrain. "Are you ready?"

The man pleaded with them, and Mel saw his shadow on the stone behind him, moving as if to hide, shaking with terror. As the masks and other demons advanced, the one holding Mel let go, and she fell to the ground and lay dazed while Ven bundled her out of the way.

"I still have the froggy prince locked away!" he beseeched them, trying to convince the spirits to give him more time.

Mel's head snapped up. So Naveen really _hadn't _gone back on his promise, or stabbed them in the back. She _knew_ it! She had been certain the moment they saw the parade that something was up, certain of foul play. Glancing at Tiana, hiding in a corner, she guessed she had heard his omission too.

Dr Facilier was dragged by his shadow into the jaws of an enormous and terrifying mask, emitting a ghoulish green light that reminded her of the underworld. He was screaming as the singing masks that lined the route he was taken down brought their song to a crescendo, and the jaws snapped down with a flash of light before everything went dark again, and silence descended.

"Are you all right?" Ven asked, looking from Mel to Tiana.

"Uh-huh."

Mel nodded mutely.

Tiana shook her head as if to clear it and said, "We've got to get back into town! Hurry!"

"Where are we going?" Ven asked, bounding after her with Mel slowly following.

"Naveen's in trouble!"

They tried to follow, but Tiana was moving on adrenaline and soon lost them. Mel couldn't keep up – she felt dizzy and sick, had she banged her head? Without noticing? It wouldn't be the first time she had sustained a concussion.

"You go, I'll catch up," she panted.

"No, I'm not leaving you behind!" Ven was scandalised at the very thought. "C'mon," he said, trying to support her.

"Ven? Mel?" Terra's voice floated towards them through the mist.

"Terra! Over here!" Ven shouted, jumping on the spot.

Mel was relieved when she saw Aqua bursting out of the mist, but she was searching for them frantically, looking too far over their heads.

"Aqua, down here!" Ven yelled at her indignantly.

Aqua looked down and fairly jumped out of her skin. Then she sank to her knees, wide eyed with astonishment. "_Ven_?"

He hopped over to her and put a hand on her leg. "We got cursed by the voodoo shadow guy! But he's gone,"

Aqua gently put her hands underneath Ven and lifted him to her face. "Oh Ven! What happened?"

"I told you!" he sighed with exasperation. "We don't know how to lift it. Mama Odie said that we had everything we'd need back at the town. This curse is different to the one on Naveen and Tiana, but we still don't know what to do,"

Mel hopped over too, almost crashing into Aqua's knee, feeling very dizzy.

"Mel! Are you okay?" Aqua asked, scooping her up and holding her close so she couldn't hurt herself.

Aqua's face swam in and out of view, and Mel forced herself to focus on her eyes and make everything stop spinning. "I think I hit my head…"

"Hold still," she said, gently dumping them on her lap and reaching for a book in a pouch at her waist. She produced a spell book she had recently acquired, and started flipping through the pages, looking for something in particular.

With her head pounding and the world slowly revolving on the wrong axis in her vision, Mel didn't catch the spell that was spoken, but she was certainly aware when she fell off Aqua's lap to the ground in a heap, twisted up in her armour and clothes again. She looked up at the sky, dazed while Ven whooped with glee.

"We're human again!"

"Mel, are you all right?" Aqua asked gently, helping her up.

Mel opened her mouth to speak, but retched instead before she could say anything. Aqua and Ven helped her to stand up after she had emptied her stomach and lead her away, shaking and trying vainly to clear her head. Yup, concussion all right. That was just great…her grandfather would have been disappointed – she had promised never to do something so stupid again. After a while, and with a blanket draped over her shoulders, Mel recovered somewhat; enough at least to listen to Ven interrogate Aqua about her bag.

"How much so you _have_ in that thing?"

"What, this?" Aqua held it up. It was a pouch Mel had made – much more hardy and functional than the medicine bag she had made for her Christmas present. "Master Kaoru taught me a spell of infinite holding. I thought I'd try it out, and it works wonderfully."

"Huh?" Ven stared at her. "What? You can do that sort of thing?"

Aqua laughed at his expression. "Of course you can, silly!"

Mel felt a prickle on the back of her neck and looked over her shoulder before she screamed, "DUCK!"

The mask that had consumed Dr Facilier had grown to even more monstrous proportions, and was bearing down on them. Aqua and Ven flung their keyblades up in defence, and Mel tied to follow suit, but she felt another wave of nausea consume her. She was only vaguely aware of the battle that was going on, and she tried to drag herself into a corner so she wasn't in anyone's way. She only saw vague impressions of what was happening – Terra appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly Leo was biting and scrapping at the giant mask as well. She couldn't be sure who dealt the finishing blow; she seemed to see all four of them descend upon it at once, and then there was nothing left – it was just simply gone.

"Mel?"

She looked up wearily and saw Terra crouching over her.

"You okay?"

"No…" she clutched her rebelling stomach. "I think I hit my head. I might have a concussion."

"At least you're not a frog anymore!" he grinned with relief. "C'mon, let's go find Tiana."

Mel tried to walk unaided, but in the end she consented to Terra carrying her only because it would be much faster. Aqua was sorting through her stores of items and spells for something to help, but Ven was insisting that Mel needed to see proper medical treatment as soon as possible.

XOXOX

"So what happened then?" Kyo demanded, hovering over his sister as Ansem shone a light into her eyes.

"We tried to lift the spell ourselves after we missed the deadline," Ven explained. "Aqua tried everything, but we think the magic only worked on us because we didn't come from that world. So Tiana and Naveen decided to stay as frogs instead. We went to the funeral the other animals had for Ray in the bayou,"

"What's a bayou?"

"Swamp," Mel said, and raised a hand to her mouth as if to stifle herself. She had been very queasy since being turned back, and Aqua was worried it was a failing of her spell casting that had brought it on, though Mel was convinced she had hit her head as a frog after the shadow monsters had dropped her.

"Anyway," Ven went on, really getting into his story telling. "He became a star, just like his Evangeline!"

"_How_?" Kyo asked, leaving his sister to go and shake Ven. "How is that possible? That's not how stars are born!"

"I dunno," Ven grinned at him. "But one moment he was there, and the next he wasn't, and then there was another star in the sky that definitely hadn't been there before! Right next to the one he said was Evangeline,"

"How is that possible?" Kyo demanded, running over to Ansem and plucking at his sleeve. "Master, how is that _possible_?!"

Ansem smiled good-naturedly and patted the boy's arm. "I shall try to unravel this mystery with you in a moment, right now your sister needs my undivided attention."

Kyo nodded, flushing with embarrassment before he scuttled out of the way. "So _then_ what happened?" he asked.

Terra chuckled and spoke before Ven could get a word in. "Mama Odie married Naveen and Tiana, and when they did they sealed it," he gave Aqua a playful look and put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. "With a kiss!" she smiled and played along, cupping his face with her hand before consenting to him.

Kyo pulled a face and pretended to vomit. "Yuck!"

"And when they did, they turned back into humans again. You know why?"

Kyo looked at him blankly before saying slowly, "Something like she was a princess now as well…or something?"

"Got it in one!" Terra ruffled his hair, and Kyo grinned at him, pleased with himself for figuring it out.

"Did she get to build her restaurant?" Kyo asked as the conversation started to tail off.

"Yeah! And we've promised to visit again some time so she and Terra can swap recipes," Ven told him.

"Kyo," Ansem said, and he sprang to attention. "Those x-rays should be done by now, would you mind getting them for me?"

Kyo left the room in a rush, and Ansem followed at a sedate pace to check on Leo's wound next door. He had sprained his left front leg, and had a nasty cut on his tail that had needed stitches; he was too big to fit in here with them, and Mel had to stay here to be examined.

Terra beamed down at Aqua, still glowing in the aftermath of victory, but she was looking at the darkening window, her face tight with worry. While Ven sat down beside Mel and slung an arm around her shoulders with a grin, Terra poked Aqua in the ribs.

"What's got you all gloomy _now_?" he asked.

Aqua glanced at Mel and shook her head. Perplexed, Terra waited to interrogate her further. Ansem came back, and then Kyo with the x-rays; Ansem decided that she had sustained no lasting damage, and didn't need any treatment beyond sleep and possibly some painkillers. Ven patted her head playfully and with good intentions, mussing her hair up and clapping her on the back. Mel went rather green briefly just before she threw up again, and Ansem wondered whether to keep her here over night just to be on the safe side. In the end, only Terra and Aqua went home; Ven opted to stay behind to keep an eye on Mel and Leo, and they would be returning home the following day if everything went well.

Finally, as they collapsed in a heap on the sofa in the common room, Terra turned to Aqua and said, "What's up?"

Aqua took a while before she responded, twisting her hands together and biting her lip. She would have looked adorable if not for the frown line etched into her brow.

"I saw Tomasa." She stated.

Terra sat up in surprise. "What?"

"When the parade was attacked. I followed him into an alleyway and pulled his hood off," she looked up at Terra, troubled. "He said…" she shook her head. "Kept telling me I had to let him go, and that I didn't understand…" she closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. "I don't know if I should tell Mel and Kyo or not. Another person appeared and blasted me off my feet – that's when you found me. I don't know what happened to Tomasa…"

Terra sat back and mulled it over in his mind, trying to think of what to do and getting no further than Aqua. He let her cuddle up against his chest as he mused, and he couldn't help but smile when he looked down at her and found she was fast asleep. He wouldn't have minded having a nice private little moment with her, what with Ven and Leo not around to spoil it; but she was exhausted, and looked so peaceful where she was, he didn't have the heart to wake her up. Instead, he carefully manoeuvred her around and shuffled her into his arms so he could carry her up to bed. Finally, after he had tucked Aqua in for the night, he crashed into his own bed and felt himself drift away quickly.

The last thought that swirled in his head, amid all the memories of that day, was that Ven had spent his first mission as a Master of The Keyblade – as a _frog_.

Oh, revenge was so very, _very_ sweet.

And this was the kind of revenge that was a victimless crime. No power struggles involved, no darkness at all.

Ven was going to pay for all those snide remarks and jokes made at Terra's expense.

XOXOX


	18. Another Familiar Face

**AN: wow my chapter titles are getting worse by the update….. xD oh well :P I thought this would take longer to write then it actually did, so maybe the next update won't take as long either ;) we shall see**

**If you have the time to by all means leave me a review and tell me what you thought, I greatly appreciate the support. And thank you once again to all the people who have favourited/are following this story since the last time I made a similar announcement, glad you're enjoying it :D**

_**Another Familiar Face**_

"What?!" Sora giggled, and then burst out laughing.

"Shut up!" Ven shouted, giving him a shove.

"Ven!" Aqua said angrily, stomping over and cuffing him round the back of the head. "Don't go round pushing people like that!"

"So why're _you_ doing it?" he snapped at her, face bright red.

"I'm the High Master – I can do what I like! But you can't just shove Sora over like that!"

"Too – _funny_!" Sora gasped, holding his splitting sides.

"Yup," Terra leaned back against the wall behind him, at his ease and smirking playfully. "First mission as a Master, and everything."

"I'm gonna kill you!" Ven snarled, trying to break out of Aqua's grip.

"You'll go home in a minute if you can't control yourself," she said berated him firmly.

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Yes I can!"

Mel cocked her head to one side, then looked up at Leo, towering over her shoulder. He sauntered over and herded Ven away from the group, keeping him within the reach of his wings to stop him from breaking away and physically attacking anyone. He led Ven away and sat down, keeping him close and watching the proceedings from the corner of his eye.

"Did you teach him that?" Riku asked, intrigued. He had found Terra's story quite amusing, but he was more interested in Leo at the moment than laughing at Ven.

"No. Leo's developed a disciplinarian attitude. Probably because he's watched Aqua trying to keep the peace so often. That's good, it means he's less likely to cause a problem himself."

"How's your head?" Riku asked, giving her a searching look.

Mel smiled and unconsciously rubbed the back of her skull. "All right. I've stopped feeling sick and there's nothing wrong with my vision – Ansem thinks I'll be just fine now."

"Still," Riku looked at the ground, and suppressed a laugh. "A frog…"

Sora burst out laughing again and staggered down to his knees. He jumped when Kairi stalked past, and looked quite contrite.

"So how was your mission?" Mel asked, and Terra came over to listen, trying to avoid Aqua's scowl.

"Yeah, it was kinda fun," Riku grinned. "We were-"

"We were finding Nemo!" Sora crowed, then looked sombre as Kairi glowered at him. "Sorry…"

"You two always leave me behind!" she whined, and both boys rushed to give her a hug and tell her she was really a most valued member of the team.

Terra winced when Aqua took a handful of his hair and pulled hard. He met her glare with as much grace and dignity as he could muster.

"I'll send _you_ home too if you can't be more civil to each other. And don't think I won't!" she hissed.

Terra had been teasing Ven non-stop, and he had decided it was the perfect opportunity to tell Sora, who had thought it was the funniest thing in the history of the universe. And Ven hadn't taken that so well…

"I don't see what's so funny about it." Ven muttered as Leo let him come back to the main group. "I wasn't the only one!"

"No," Mel said, sliding from the low wall she was sat on and walking over to him. She put a hand on Ven's arm and went on, "We can start our own clique, and you have to have been a frog to be in it. Highly exclusive,"

"Yeah!" Ven put an arm around her and pulled a face at Terra. "I don't need you! C'mon, Mel!" he spun round and dragged her off to the edge of the square.

"So how did your mission go?" Aqua asked, turning to Riku for the report.

"Heartless, but not so many." He said with a shrug. "I've seen more than that before in one place. We were helping a fish named Marlin to find his son."

"We were fish too," Sora said in a small voice, biting his lip and fiddling with his hands as he watched after Ven. "They weren't the only ones to be turned into something…"

"I wish I could've been there," Kairi said longingly.

"Okay!" Sora perked up instantly. "Next time, I'll stay at home and be sociable. You can go instead!"

"But I won't get to be a fish!" Kairi whined.

"Riku can take you to that world, right Riku?" he turned to his best friend. "Dory wants us to drop by and say hi! Oh yeah! And we have a new catch phrase, too!" he added, grinning at Aqua.

Terra laughed as she smiled at him good-naturedly. Sora was weird – he was a delightful boy and fun to hang out with, but he was undeniably weird. "And what would that be, Sora?"

Sora stood back straight and to attention; he raised a hand as if to make a solemn oath and recited with conviction: "Fish are friends – _not_ food!"

Kairi giggled. "You're weird, Sora!"

"It's a long story…" Riku sighed when Terra pressed him for more information.

They all looked up when they heard a yelp from Ven, and then in surprise when Leo retreated, looking alarmed.

"Come'ere you bloody stupid dog!" shouted a lyrically accented voice.

A _huge_ dog – that looked as if it was more than one part wolf – was bouncing around Mel and trying to reach up to lick her face while Ven slowly sat up from his sprawl on the ground. Leo crouched behind Aqua, staring at the dog with wide and startled eyes.

"Hi Rhiannon!" Sora waved cheerfully.

"Hallo, everyone," the woman said, frazzled as she grabbed the dog by its scruffy collar and heaved.

"This your dog?" Sora asked unnecessarily.

"In a manner of speaking," she sighed, rubbing her temple one handed – clinging to the dog with the other. "A friend of a friend was looking after him for me during the council, and I just picked her up. I don't know what to do with the great lump…"

"Is she a hybrid?" Mel asked, giving the dog a closer look.

"Yup. My friend and I found her as a puppy, and I was the only one with a ship. Of course I took her in, but she is a handful. Her name's Tiggy."

"Pleased to meet you, Tiggy." Mel said, stroking the dog's head.

"Didn't mention a dog before," Ven said, getting to his feet.

"Well, didn't exactly come up in conversation, did it? The council was about the Keyblade Dragon, not this useless bag of fur."

"Aww," Mel said, grabbing the happily panting dog and ruffling up her thick fur either side of her neck. "We're not useless, are we?"

Terra laughed. "You got a soft spot for animals,"

"She's _gorgeous_," Mel cooed, and the dog started bouncing around her feet, liking the attention.

"She's a pain in the arse," Rhiannon said with a smile. "But I love the slobbery beast all the same. Too bad she's not as well behaved as Leo, eh?"

Leo looked upset that Mel was giving Tiggy so much attention, and Terra scratched the dragon's neck in compensation.

"What brings you here?" Riku asked as Tiggy begged for Mel's attention and received it enthusiastically.

"Invitation from Ansem, o'course." She said, reaching for the dog who was leaping up at Mel. "_Down_, you great furry lout!"

"That's all right," Mel said with a smile. Tiggy placed her front paws on Mel's shoulders and then alarmingly put her teeth on her neck. For a moment Terra thought the dog was going to bite her and tear her throat out – but Tiggy whined happily and gently nibbled her with obvious affection.

"What's she _doing_?" Riku asked, amazed.

"Tiggy's part wolf, am I right?"

"Yup."

"This is how wolves show each other their affection. They gently bite each other's necks. She won't hurt me. She wants me to know that she knows I'm her superior. She's not a very commandeering pack member, is she?"

"Saves me a lotta trouble." Rhiannon snorted, folding her arms. "I know a mage who took in a wolf hybrid – bloody _nightmare_. The damn ting was a menace, and didn't take any orders from him. In the end he gave the poor beast up. Just couldn't handle him."

"Tiggy's quite happy to be submissive." Mel said calmly, stroking the creature. "She's probably not that hard to train."

"I've never been good with animals, pet." Terra recognised the affectionate exasperation in her gaze; the same look Aqua often gave him and Ven. "But she's not _so_ bad. It's just that she gets over excited. I don't tink the person lookin' after her was especially good at pet sitting. Tiggy's been even more hyper than usual since I got her back. I'm never taking Kyle's advice on dog sitters again!"

Leo looked genuinely upset that Mel was fussing over the dog, and even when Rhiannon called Tiggy off and led her away, he still looked dejected.

"You know I wouldn't stop loving you just because of a hybrid dog," Mel said softly, reaching up to stroke his face. Leo raised his head and stared out over the town silently. "Leo?"

He looked down on her from his lofty height and croaked.

"Is something wrong?" Mel asked, suddenly worried.

Leo shook his head, eyes closed, and then slowly plodded off after Rhiannon in the direction of the Committee's main base.

"What's gotten into him?" Ven asked, mystified.

"Oh dear…" Mel frowned. "I think…it looks like he's in pain,"

"Growth spurt?" Terra suggested. "It took forever to wake him up this morning."

"He can't grow any bigger!" Kairi was aghast. "He won't fit in the castle"!"

"I'm sure we can do a little remodelling," Aqua said soothingly, though she too looked a little worried.

They followed in his wake, and congregated outside the Committee's main building in the square outside. Leo curled himself up and tucked his wings and tail in close while he watched Tiggy try to run amok. In the end Mel used a trick she had learnt during her travels to impose her authority further over her – she grabbed the dog by her thick ruff and growled long and low, looking her straight in the eyes at close quarters. Tiggy whined and licked her face in appeasement before settling down quietly at her feet.

"Well I never!" Rhiannon was astonished. "How in the _world_ did you mange that?"

Mel shrugged helplessly, having not thought much of her actions and completely caught off guard by the question. "I don't know. Someone showed me how to handle wolves and dogs – I thought this would make her settle down."

"Bloody miracle!" Rhiannon started plying her with questions about it.

Leon came by, but he didn't stop – he was on some errand for Merlin, and Sora happily bounced along after the old wizard, bearing a familiar looking book. He dragged Riku along, and Kairi followed of her own free will with keen interest. Eventually Ven got bored and started talking to Rhiannon while Mel spoke soothingly to Leo and tried to ascertain hat was wrong with him. Leo as silent and kept drawing in closer to himself, not looking at Mel – he was genuinely upset by something.

It was a while before Terra realised he had been staring avidly at Aqua. She was talking to Rinoa animatedly about baking; swapping recipes and laughing at her own dog Angelo who had started to play with Tiggy. Aqua looked up at Terra, smiling at the dogs and their antics, and he felt his face heat up and quickly looked away. Bemused, Aqua turned back to Rinoa, and he continued to watch her from the corner of his eye.

Why was he thinking these thoughts _now_, of all times? He normally could keep it all together – so why was his mind wandering along certain tangents?

In the bright sunlight, Aqua's hair shone as brilliant and deep a blue as the clear sky above; her eyes caught the light and it showed the vivid electric blue streaks in her irises. Her skin was a pleasant contrast to her hair and eyes – naturally fair and pale in comparison. Her smile was free and unrestrained, and she seemed genuinely unworried – at least for the moment within her current conversation. She was so beautiful…

Tiggy barked and bounced over Leo's tail, drawing attention as the dragon stood up and paced away from the ambling dogs before settling down again. Aqua's expression immediately became concerned, but when they went to check on Leo they couldn't get him to let on what was wrong.

"Odd," Rinoa said, reaching up a hand that was carefully deflected with a huge feathered wing. Usually he enjoyed Rinoa's company, and consented to let her fuss over him. "Is he sick?"

"I don't know." Mel looked upset, and Ven and Riku tried to comfort her.

Terra tore himself away from watching Aqua towards Leo and his discomfort, but he didn't know what to suggest anymore than they did. He was just as stumped as the rest of them. It just made it that much easier for him to look at Aqua again instead, and start spinning daydreams in his head. He found himself half wishing they were alone together, without anyone else to worry over so he could have her sole and undivided attention.

"Terra?"

"Huh?" he jerked and looked down at Mel, blinking.

"Are you all right?" she asked, somewhat distracted by Leo's mood.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Fine. Don't worry about me, okay?"

Mel nodded, and shot Leo a sideways glance. He looked thoroughly miserable. "Aqua, Leon wanted some help with something, and-"

"I'll go," she said before Mel could finish.

"Me too," Terra volunteered quickly. He scowled at Ven's knowing smirk, and quailed at Rinoa's smile as she watched the two of them walk across the square.

"Behave, Ven." Aqua said sternly, giving him a piercing look.

"You know me," he grinned happily. "Would _I _do such a thing?"

Aqua looked unconvinced, and Riku laughed before saying, "We'll keep him in line. Right, Leo?"

Leo croaked again and thumped his tail weakly on the ground, looking ever so slightly more perky.

After a few minutes of walking in comfortable silence through Radiant Garden, Aqua turned to Terra with a questioning look. "Um…Terra?"

"What?"

"You've been staring at me for the last five minutes. Is something wrong?"

Again, he felt his face flush. "No! Nothing's wrong," he wasn't about to admit he had been day dreaming about her swimming outfit from New Years…or running his fingers through her hair, or kissing her beautiful pale skin, or…

Get a grip! He shook his head angrily and tried to rid his mind of the avenue of thoughts that were creeping up on him.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Aqua asked, concerned for him.

"Really, it's nothing." He tried to smile convincingly, and probably failed.

Aqua raised an eyebrow, and suddenly laughed as things were getting just a little too tense for his liking. "You're so weird, Terra!" she said, reaching up to cup his face with one hand as she kissed his cheek.

He couldn't help but touch the place her lips had been, gazing after her in wonder. He still sometimes couldn't quite believe or even understand why she was interested in him beyond friendship. Terra's smile widened when Aqua took his hand in hers and towed him along behind her; he gave her a loving squeeze, and felt it returned.

XOXOX

Leon was waiting for help to arrive so he could shift some crates around when he saw the shadowy figure. He raised his weapon and barked a command for the person to halt. Amazingly, they did so with no resistance, though they were obviously surprised at being shouted at.

"Show yourself!"

They walked into the sunlight, and he saw it was a woman in her mid twenties, or there abouts. She had short, chocolate brown hair that was much longer on one side of her head than the other, and wore baggy, stained travelling clothes in dark brown and muted green; a huge rucksack was on her shoulders and in her hands she held a large and ornately decorated bow. But her most striking feature were her eyes – one was blood red, and the other was a pale yellow. Everything about her said _stranger_, and given the recent goings on, Leon was in no mood to be lenient with travellers skulking around in the shadows.

"Aw'right?" she said pleasantly, looking not so very threatening in her stance and expression.

"Who are you?" Leon demanded.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't point that thing at me, mate." She said, watching his face closely. She had an odd sort of drawling accent; it sounded like Kyo's a little bit, but with a pronounced slurring of words, particularly the ends. Most of the 't's didn't manifest at all, though it was impossible to mistake what she was saying – for all that the sounds were distorted, her speech was very clear and completely intelligible.

Leon carefully lowered his weapon, but not completely. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he said evenly, watching her like a hawk.

"Name's Lynn." She said, carefully setting her bow down and leaning it against a nearby wall before she laid a quiver full of arrows beside it. Then she set her bag down, and from beneath her shirt she unstrapped two daggers and a hunting knife – all of which she laid on the ground between them before straightening up and raising her hands in surrender, taking an exaggerated step back. "I'm just passing through. I don't intend to stay long or cause your people any grief."

Leon relaxed as he saw Aqua round a corner, followed swiftly by Terra. Good, this woman couldn't cause too much trouble with them around to back him up.

"Hey Leon,"

"Hi."

"What the-?" they both stopped to stare at her, and she stared back like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What is it?" Leon said tensely, raising his gunblade again.

"Yeah," Lynn said with a wry smile, looking directly at Aqua. "I know how it looks and what you're thinking, but I assure you I mean no harm."

"What is it?" Leon said again, getting agitated.

"A nobody." Terra said flatly.

Leon wordlessly raised his weapon and held it in the ready position, trained on the woman.

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, in what he now knew was a façade. "I'm quite happy to pack up my crap and get out of your hair, if you'll let me leave in peace."

"I don't think so." Leon stated. "A lot of odd things have been happening around here – we're not taking any chances."

"Look," she said, her speech becoming more rapid and clipped with irritation. "I'm not here to cause a fight, or a disturbance or _whatever_. I just want to get some items and hand a few things over to the Moogles, and then I'll be on my way. I didn't come here to be a general nuisance or danger to society."

"You understand the concern we have for the welfare of the people of this town," Aqua reasoned calmly. "The heartless are becoming more of a problem,"

"Oh, here too, is it?" she shook her head. "Bloody 'ell…"

"What do you know about the heartless?" Terra asked, expression intense.

"Oh, you mean apart from being a bigger pain in the arse recently?" Lynn kicked her right leg back behind her left and balanced on the ball of her foot while she looked vaguely in an upward direction as she thought. "Well, I noticed a thicker concentration in one of the closer worlds to here, but I figured I should probably keep my nose out of it and keep moving. I'm low on supplies so I needed to stop over somewhere, but I didn't realised they were a problem here too."

Leon wasn't sure if he was convinced, and he could see neither were the other two.

"What do you know about the recent activity?" Aqua asked.

"Well, there's a main driving force that's directing them, but there's a smaller group that's doing something a bit different to the rest. I don't quite know what's behind it or why, to be honest. I was actually hoping to find some news here about it. It's really strange," she frowned, and cocked her head to one side. "Heartless don't normally act that way. I've seen groups roaming around doing one thing, and then a smaller pack tear through them on some apparently 'other' errand. They've even been attacking _each other_. That 'ent normal – it's not _right_. I can't get my mind round it,"

Aqua looked thoughtful, and then exchanged a few quick words with Terra before speaking to Leon. "Maybe we should bring her with us. Maybe she can tell us more about the heartless."

"A nobody?" Leon was dubious. That had never been good news for Radiant Garden in the past. "You sure we can trust it?"

"Steady on, mate!" she snapped, apparently indignant. "I have a name, y'know!"

"If nothing else, we can keep an eye on her, even if she doesn't have useful information."

Lynn looked thoroughly annoyed at the way they were talking about her, as though she weren't there, but Leon wasn't about to be fooled. "All right," he jerked his head towards the street that lead to the main road. "Come with us."

"You mind if I put these way?" she said, nodding at the blades on the ground. "It's easier to carry them-"

"No." Leon said flatly.

"_Fine_." She snapped, picking up her bag and standing far away from her weapons, which Terra picked up instead. "Careful with that knife," she instructed, making no move to take it herself. "It's important to me."

Terra nodded but said nothing. Aqua took the bow and the quiver (which was almost completely full) and as they set off she couldn't help but run her fingers over the ornate carvings and admire them. Leon told them to take Lynn to the square so the other keyblade wielders would be around to watch her while he went for Ansem. She acquiesced passively, with an undercurrent of annoyance, letting them walk her to their destination like a petulant child on their way to a detention. Once in the square, Leon saw to his dismay that only Ven and Riku were present – the others had disappeared somewhere.

"Hey! Where'd everyone go?" Terra asked, setting the daggers and knife down on a low wall.

"Inside," Ven shrugged. "Getting something to drink. Who's this?"

"Hi," Lynn said politely through force of habit.

Ven took a few steps towards them, then stopped to gawk at her, joined swiftly by Riku who regarded her warily.

"Watch her." Leon instructed them, turning to the main building and stepping inside to call the others out.

Kairi looked confused at the proceedings, and Sora was…well, just Sora. He was curious, and not overly fussed about the nobody once he was over the initial shock of her arrival. Rinoa surreptitiously stuck close to Leon's side, and Lea stretched while yawning widely before he appraised the woman with a dispassionate gaze. Lynn herself sat down on the ground in the middle of the group, looking rather bored and playing with her shoelaces to pass the time, ignoring the looks she was receiving. Leon wanted to wait for Mel and the other Master to come back before he set off – the dragon wouldn't do a miss either.

"What's all this, then?" Rhiannon called, rounding a corner and entering the square. "Sometin' goin' on?"

Lynn stilled and her eyes grew incredibly wide at the sound of the Master's voice; she had her back turned to Rhiannon currently, so the woman didn't see her reaction. She looked up at Terra who was the closest and said in a low voice, "Get me the hell outta here,"

"Huh?" he blinked in surprise at the odd request, considering she had willingly allowed them to take her as effectively a prisoner.

Leon tensed for some sort of trick, but her sudden distress appeared quite genuine.

"I can't stay here. Just let me go." She said, keeping her voice quiet. "For Rhi's sake – just let me go!"

"No idea," Ven said with a grand shrug to Rhiannon. "Leon just dragged her back with him. Dunno anymore than you."

Aqua was frowning with concern, looking from Lynn to Rhiannon. The nobody was acting rather oddly, though it wasn't exactly suspicious; she appeared quite happy to leave all of her possessions behind, so long as she left the scene with great haste. What on _earth_ for, was the big question…

"Yo, Mel!" Ven called as Mel came into view, jogging slowly. "Where's Leo?"

"Just coming. He was getting a drink." She looked upset. "I can't figure out what's wrong with him. I don't think it's his foot or his tail that's bothering him at the moment…" she stopped when she saw the nobody, and she seemed to instantly understand at least part of the situation. She gave the woman a wary look and went to stand beside Ven.

"Why do you want to leave so suddenly?" Leon asked, not bothering to lower his voice, and he was surprised by the filthy look he got in return.

"Like _you_ care." She snapped.

"What's goin' on?" Rhiannon asked, striding into the loose circle that surrounded the nobody. "This a prisoner of war or what?"

Lynn winced, her face twisted with pain. "Please _no_…" she muttered under her breath, shoulder hunched inward as if to shield herself from sight.

"What's going on?" Yuffie demanded, striding onto the scene and heading straight for Lynn.

"Get back here," Leon began, but as ever – she didn't heed a word he said. Instead, she marched right up to the nobody and grabbed her by the arm before dragging her to her feet. Leon was surprised to see the miserable look on her face as she tried to hunch over and keep her face hidden from view. "Yuffie, enough."

"Well, we need to search for weapons, right?" she said a bit carelessly.

"We've done that," Terra stated simply, lifting the hunting knife to emphasise his point.

Rhiannon glanced at it, and frowned slightly as if struggling to remember something.

"You can never be too sure!" Yuffie insisted, reaching for the nobody's belt.

Lynn took a step back, scowling as she tried to dodge out of the way, but Yuffie was insistent. "Pack it in," she snarled, side stepping and managing to keep her back turned towards Rhiannon.

Leon was struggling to understand the strange behaviour, but it all started to become apparent as things began to kick off. Aqua was saying she felt Yuffie was going too far, and Yuffie was ignoring everyone telling her to stop. In the end Lynn lashed out at her and gave her a defensive shove, displaying her profile and saying, "Oi! Piss off pipsqueak, I 'ent got anything on me, aw'right"

Rhiannon froze, staring at her with deep intensity. Lynn winced but didn't turn to look at her – everyone stilled and waited to see what would happen next, including Yuffie, if somewhat indignantly.

Eventually, the Keyblade Master took a step forward, raising a hand questioningly, eyes the size of saucers. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Slowly, the nobody raised her gaze to meet Rhiannon's, but she dropped it almost instantly, and physical shuddered, looking away.

After what seemed an unbearable age, Rhiannon took the few final steps to stand beside Lynn, who was staring intently at the cobbled ground by Terra's feet. She leant forward slightly, trying to get the nobody to look at her. After a few attempts, she finally found her voice and said, "…_Evie_?"

Lynn's eyes flickered in dim acknowledgement, and though her mouth moved, she didn't speak, and apparently had no conscious intention to do so.

"Eaves, is that really you?"

Lynn raised her head slightly, but made no move to look at Rhiannon. "Kinda." She said in a tight voice.

"Look at me." Rhiannon demanded.

When Lynn did, they held each other's gaze for a long moment. It was shattered by Rhiannon's fist connecting with Lynn's face, and she stumbled before recoiling from a second blow that knocked her to the ground. Leon was shocked by the response, and even more amazed that Lynn had made no move to defend herself, considering the way she had pushed Yuffie away for more minor transgressions.

"You bloody idiot!" Rhiannon screamed at her, alarming everyone. "Did you never tink I wouldn't be worried _sick _when you never showed up! Where the _feckin' hell have you been_?!"

Riku and Terra lunged forward to grab Rhiannon and subdue her gently while she ranted at the prone figure on the ground. Aqua rushed over and helped her to sit up, preparing a healing spell as Lynn sat up and touched her newly split lip with a dazed expression.

"Okay…I deserved that one, I admit…" she said bleakly, wiping the trickle of blood away with the back of her hand.

Rhiannon stood with the other two Masters either side of her, breathing heavily and glaring angrily at the woman on the ground, hands balled into fists. "D'ya have _any_ idea what I've been trough the last four years?" she demanded.

Lynn didn't say anything, just inspected her boots closely and let Aqua heal her wounds without comment.

"Why?" Rhiannon shouted at her, and she winced as if in pain. "Why!"

"Why d'you _think,_" Lynn murmured, not looking up.

Rhiannon gave a strangled cry and pushed both Terra and Riku out of the way before throwing herself at Lynn. For a moment Leon thought she was meaning to attack her again, but she flung her arms around the nobody and burst into angry tears. She pummelled her back as she sobbed, and Lynn's arms came up automatically to hug her back, curling into a ball against her chest and silently rocking with her as she poured out her pent up grief.

"You…_stupid_, selfish, un_tinking_ child…!" Rhiannon accused her angrily, punctuating each syllable with a blow to her spine.

"Yeah, whatever Rhi." Lynn said unsteadily, eyes glazed.

XOXOX

"Well!" Sora said grandly, looking around at everyone. "This was a day of the unexpected."

Riku responded by throwing a packet of biscuits at him. "Oh _shut up_…"

Aqua wasn't entirely sure what to think either; Rhiannon had come across as a nice, if somewhat rough and impatient woman who wasn't afraid to say what she was thinking. It was a shock to watch her physically attack someone, regardless of who they were, and an even bigger to shock to find the nobody that had appeared seemingly from nowhere was yet another wielder of the keyblade.

Lynn was exceptionally quiet after Rhiannon had calmed down, and accepted the hot tea that was pressed into her hands without a word – just a simple and single nod of acknowledgement. Rhiannon sat beside her, just drinking in the sight of her even though her old friend tried to hide her face from sight. Aqua could remember that, watching Ven and Terra closely, memorising every last detail for fear they would slip away from her again.

Ansem was summoned with great haste, and he was quite surprised by what greeted him, but nowhere near as surprised as Lynn was when Mel finally managed to convince Leo to come back to the square. Nobodies and long lost friends aside, Leo's behaviour was one of the most troubling problems of the day – especially when they couldn't ascertain what was wrong. He rounded the corner and shuffled over, then yelped and retreated as Lynn jumped to her feet with a shout.

"Dragon!" she shrieked, pointing at Leo, who stared back with equal fear.

"Yes," Rhiannon managed a smile, and puffed her chest out importantly. "You missed quite the memo pet."

"Dragon!" she said weakly, hand shaking.

Leo looked to Mel for guidance before curling himself up and tucking his limbs in like a cat to watch the proceedings, looking slowly more worse for wear as the day progressed.

Sora laughed. "That's what _we_ said, and we knew him when he was _tiny_!"

Leo snorted derisively and gave Sora a sour look. Apparently, he was under the impression he had never been 'tiny' in his life. Aqua smiled when she thought of the fluffy bundle of limbs he had once been – less than a year ago, as well!

"What the bloody hell is a _dragon_-?!" Lynn rabbited on, staring with apprehension as Rhiannon raised a hand and pulled at the back of her baggy shirt so she fell over. "That was one _hell_ of a memo, Rhi."

"You'd've known about it if you weren't galavantin' off-!"

"Aw'right, aw'right, spare me a lecture," Lynn snapped, rubbing the back of her neck.

"And!" Rhiannon said with ire in her eyes, rounding on the poor woman. "What in the name of God are you _wearing_, Eaves?"

"I do believe, oh observant one, that they are known in this local dialect as _clothes_." Lynn snapped, watching Leo warily.

"You look a disgrace,"

"Piss off!" Lynn said indignantly, trying to wriggle out of arms reach. "I've been travelling rough. _You'd_ look shit as well if you'd had'ta wash in streams and sleep under stars for three months solid!"

"And what in the world were you trying to achieve?"

"Stuff." Lynn said defiantly, lifting her chin stubbornly and narrowing her eyes.

Aqua wasn't too sure what to make of Lynn. She seemed to have something of an attitude, and she was very defensive and quick to get snappish, but…she didn't seem overly dangerous, as such. She had been willing to let them take her weapons and frog march her at their whim, and she was willing to stick around even after the way Rhiannon had greeted her – having made no attempt to protect herself. Of course, as a nobody, the energy around her was distorted; Mel had spoken a bit about it before, and as Aqua gently probed around the chakras she found that the sacral and heart points were severely warped in comparison to other people's. Despite Rhiannon's persistence in calling her 'Evie', the woman had said firmly when Ven tried to call her by that name, "I'm _Lynn_."

"Well, now." Ansem said eventually, appraising the situation as Rhiannon dragged Lynn to her feet and started fussing over her clothes, straightening the collar of her shirt and evening out her belt. "This is a conundrum."

"I am more than happy to take my crap and go," Lynn offered, dodging out of Rhiannon's reach. "If my presence here is causing a disturbance – and especially with – pack it in, Rhi!"

"You're a disgrace to your Master, wanderin' round looking like that!"

"I'm _talking_ to another adult, quit treating me like I'm five! And don't drag Master Sol into this!"

"Look at you!" Rhiannon shook her.

"Yeah, look at me! I hate my eyes and I hate my hair, and-!"

"And what about these clothes?"

"That is totally beside the _point_, Rhiannon."

They started bickering amongst themselves while Ansem tried to decide what to do. Aqua tried to lend a helping hand, but it was a difficult quandary to resolve; nobodies were a walking contradiction, and in the past – especially to this world – they had been very dangerous, rarely ever good news. But…watching her argue with Rhiannon over such trivial matters…if you ignored the flow of energy around her and focused on purely what you saw physically, then she was no different to anyone else. But a nobody who could wield a keyblade was certainly a cause for alarm, enough to make Aqua pause for thought before she made a decision.

Kyo got annoyed with Yuffie and Leon for referring to Lynn as 'it' and 'the nobody', which didn't phase Lynn herself, although Rhiannon looked fleetingly very upset by it before she schooled her expression.

"_She_ has a name, you know Yuffie." Kyo snarled.

"Whoa, cool it Sparky." Lynn said, raising a hand to placate his temper. Surprisingly, he backed down almost instantly. "They do have a point, kid. Mine is a difficult position to be in, and it makes it harder on other people, too. I'll bring trouble no matter where I go just by being this way – you'd be stupid not to be concerned."

"That's no excuse to be rude!" Kyo stormed, claming down when Mel put a hand on his arm. "Tell her, Mel!"

"I think Lynn can make her own decisions." She said softly.

Aqua bristled when she saw the way Lynn was watching Mel, very closely. She couldn't have possibly missed the way the nobody was following her every move, but she didn't openly acknowledge it.

"Well?" Lea asked loudly, watching Lynn as closely as she watched Mel. "What are we gonna do with her?" Perhaps Lea was one of the best placed individuals to take stock of the situation, Aqua mused to herself.

"She's staying, of course." Rhiannon said, as though it were obvious.

"I think the consensus is '_go_', Rhi." Lynn said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. "Which I'm more than happy to-"

"Don't be an egit,"

"I'm not done talking-!"

"If it makes you feel better," Rhiannon said loudly over her, talking directly to Leon and Ansem. "I'll take _full_ responsibility for Evie's actions."

"Oi! Did I become a ghost or something? Hello! Rhi!" she grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard while glaring into her eyes. "Don't talk about me like I 'ent here!"

"S'cuse _me_, young lady," she snapped, and Lynn scoffed loudly. "You are in _no_ stance to comment on-!"

"Who are you, my mother?!"

"As good as!"

"Oh piss off Rhi! You can't take the flack for the crap _I_ pull – specially not now! If they want me outta their city I'll go, but-"

"Not without _me_ ya don't." Rhiannon grabbed her arm in a vice like grip, and Lynn winced.

"Well," Ansem said slowly, appraising the nobody with a slight frown. "Perhaps if you tell us what your plans were. Leon has told me what he said you told him earlier."

"Literally," Lynn turned away from Rhiannon, who scowled at her. "I was gonna stock up on some potions and ethers because I'm seriously low, drop this junk off with the Moogles," she kicked at her bag. "And then push off. The heartless have given me cause for concern, but I felt it in everyone's best interest if I kept my nose out of it, so I was going to disappear to the nearest clear world I could find after leaving – what quite frankly is one of the _nicest_ cities I've seen for a while now." She spoke rather bluntly, with an odd sort of drawl that never made it hard to understand, though she dropped the ends of many words, especially the 't's. Lynn wasn't trying to play up an act or try to wheedle her way out of the potential mess she was in. As far as Aqua could tell, she had been perfectly open and honest. Of course, with a nobody it was rather hard to tell…

"How do we know we can trust her?" Leon turned to Ansem, who nodded at him gravely.

"Because I say so!" Rhiannon said, full of righteous indignation.

"He _does_ have a point, Rhi," Lynn began.

"Shut up I'm talking!"

"Oh, so it's fine for _you_ in interrupt everyone else, but the _moment_ I open my mouth-!"

"You want my help or not?" Rhiannon snapped at her.

"You are _not_ helping my position, you stupid bint!" Lynn shook her hands at the older woman.

"Rhiannon," Aqua stepped in as she saw the familiar patterns of a fight springing among long lost friends. "She's right. And so is Leon. We know virtually nothing about her, and given what's been happening lately, we need to be more careful. The people of this world could be at risk, even if Lynn doesn't mean to cause any harm." She hated using her higher rank like this to win an argument, but she had to do something to deflate the situation. She had thought Rhiannon was a bit of a hard head like Terra – she hadn't quite realised the temper she had on her.

"Good point, ma'am." Lynn agreed with a little salute. "So I can take my junk and leave then, right?" she shot at Ansem.

"I don't see any reason for you to rush off." He said calmly. "You said you had noticed the manner in which the heartless have been organising themselves recently, yes?"

"Well, it's kinda hard _not_ to, truth be told," she folded her arms meditatively. Her eyes were a little disconcerting because of their colour, but the expression in them was actually pretty calm given the loud mouth attitude and tone of voice. "I can't figure it out. Plus, I get the feeling that maybe I don't _want_ to get involved. But Rhi here's determined to make a spectacle of me and deny me from leaving, so I guess I could stick around and fill you in the very little I know."

"That would be most agreeable to me." Ansem said with a polite bow, before turning to Leon. "Do you have any objections?"

"Huh?" Leon blinked in surprise. "Well…_yes_."

"Aww, c'mon Leon!" Sora said loudly, making several people jump; he had been quite quiet up until now. "She doesn't seem so bad! And not all nobodies are bad, right?"

"Could ya stop sayin' that, pet?" Rhiannon said with a frown, though she seemed to have reined her temper in a bi, for now at least.

"Be fair, the lad doesn't know me very well, and that is one of my distinguishing features."

Rhiannon gave her a withering look.

"Just saying!" Lynn threw her hands up in surrender.

"Put a sock it in, Evalyn."

"I would but they're all dirty at the moment."

Rhiannon sighed and hung her head in defeat. "Why…?"

Lynn shrugged in response.

"I'm not sure it's wise to have a nobody around," Leon said simply, speaking his mind. "No offence," he added, giving her a sideways glance.

"None taken." Lynn raised a hand again to show there were no hard feelings.

"How do we know she's being sincere?"

"If I could just say something," Riku said calmly, drawing attention to him and Sora stood side by side. "Nobody's _do_ have emotions, just not quite the same as ours."

"And you can regenerate a heart, eventually." Sora added. "Lynn doesn't seem like a bad guy,"

Lynn's eyebrows had shot up and she stared at the two boys in amazement. Mel looked a little shocked too, when Aqua turned to her.

"Shit. I didn't know that,"

"Then maybe hope isn't all lost on you, flower." Rhiannon said with a weak smile.

"My day just keeps on getting weirder." Lynn stated, eyeing Leo up and getting the same treatment in return.

"Mel," Terra said suddenly, dragging her attention onto something slightly more focused. "You're good at reading people. Do you see any ill intent?"

Mel walked around Lynn, studying her quite openly and ignoring the look she was receiving in kind. She put a hand into one of her pouches where she kept her crystals as she went, before standing in front of the woman and meeting her gaze for a very long moment. Lynn had to peer down to compensate for the difference in height, and Mel had to crane her head back, but it didn't seem to lessen her authority over the situation. It suddenly struck Aqua just how tall Lynn was – she positively towered over most of the people gathered around. Compared to tiny little Mel, she was a giant.

"Well?" Ven pressed as Mel took her place by his side after a few tense minutes.

"I think we can trust Lynn to tell us the truth, and that she doesn't _intend_ to cause any harm to anyone." Mel said slowly, choosing her words carefully.

Aqua smiled and closed her eyes. Trust Mel to be helpful and cryptic at the same time.

"Right!" Rhiannon grabbed Lynn by the shoulders, and Aqua saw why she hadn't seen her extreme height in the first place; Lynn slouched to make herself a smaller and less threatening target, and also to bring herself closer to other people's level. Those clothes she wore also hid her stature; their bagginess served to make her look somewhat smaller than she really was. "So you're happy for Evie to stay in this world?"

"As long as she poses no threat to my people, she may stay as long as she likes." Ansem said, with a smile.

Lynn gave a bored expression and said, "I s'pose I have no say in this anymore?"

"Nope." Rhiannon said smugly.

"Figures," she scoffed.

"I'll keep a close eye on her so she doesn't cause us any trouble, now." Rhiannon seemed back on form again, and started bustling around, taking the daggers from Terra and shoving them into Lynn's hands.

"Oi, watch it! They're not sheathed!" she scrambled for the handles so she didn't cut herself.

"I get the why of this old ting," Rhiannon said, lovingly handing the hunting knife over. "But why the daggers? And this ridiculous ting?" she held up the quiver of arrows and kicked at the bow.

"Oi!" Lynn dived to catch it. "I spent the better part of a year making that! You break it and I'll break your face, got that?"

"No need to be so touchy!"

"You'd be touchy is someone broke that god awful vase you made all those years ago." Lynn muttered, sheathing and belting her blades away. "I put lots of time into this ting of which you speak. You'd be pissed too if people disrespected your craft!"

"Calm down pet," Rhiannon pinched the bridge of her nose while Lynn kicked back one of her legs and placed the bow over her shoulders, settling into a comfortable position. "I tink you need to go clean up, first."

"Yeah, maybe."

"You need someplace to go?" Sora asked helpfully, about to make an offer.

"I still have the _Epona_." Rhiannon cut in. "With hot water and everything."

"Oh _god_ that sounds nice." Lynn closed her eyes to savour the thought. "Cold mountain streams are rugged and all, but the novelty wears of extremely quickly!"

Mel's lips quirked into a smile at the comment, and Kyo scuttled over to tug at her sleeve. "Is the meeting over then?"

"You'd have to ask Aqua."

"Huh?" Lynn had half listened to them. "Oh yeah, I guess I should know everyone names, shouldn't I?"

"I'm Sora!" the boy grinned, and she shot him a smile back. "This is Riku, and Ven. That's Kairi, this is Mel and her brother Kyo. And that's Aqua and Terra. I guess you know Rhiannon already. Oh! And that's Leo,"

Lynn snorted with laughter, but it was mostly contained. "Yeah, I guess you could say I _know_ Rhi. Got a lot of dirt on her,"

"Like I haven't got the same on _you_, you grubby little-"

"Meh," Lynn shrugged, running her hands over the wood of her bow. "So anyways – who's who's?" When her question was met with mostly blank stares, she elaborated. "As in, who's the Master round here, who's training under who. You know, your keyblade ties and all that shizz if they're still preaching all that archaic crap to this generation."

Aqua couldn't help but smile at the way Lynn spoke. She seemed to have the same dry and sarcastic sense of humour as Rhiannon, but it manifested differently in her when she spoke.

"Well, Riku and I are Masters." Sora went on thoughtfully. "So are Ven and Terra. Kairi, Mel and Lea aren't yet, but I think they will be pretty soon." Kairi beamed, and Lea laughed while Mel coughed quietly once, avoiding everyone's gaze. "And we all train still under Aqua."

"Huh?" Lynn looked up and met Aqua's eyes unflinchingly. "Haven't you lot flown the coup yet?"

"Evie," Rhiannon pointed at Ven, Terra and Aqua with both hands. "This is Eraqus' lot."

"Oh! Cool," she tipped another salute to them all. "Pleasure to meet you, even if under somewhat random circumstances."

"And Aqua was not long ago ordained _High_ Master, which is why she still gets to boss this lot around."

"Ha!" Ven snorted. "As if!"

Lynn's eyebrows disappeared under her messy fringe before she lowered her bow to the ground and held it like a staff. "Sorry for the informalities,"

"Really," Aqua tried not to get irritated as Ven and Terra laughed at her. "It's fine – don't worry about it." Lynn didn't have get so formal…

"So, you were all her apprentices or what?" Lynn went on, letting the tension slide away easily as she turned to the group at large. She seemed just as curious about them as they were of her.

"Nope!" Sora grinned. "Riku and I taught ourselves! Well, Aqua helped me out a lot since I had to take the Mark of Mastery twice."

Riku smirked at him. "He's kinda dim, if you know what I mean."

"Hey!" his scowl brought on a round of laughter from everyone watching, and the tension that had filled them all at the start of the impromptu meeting relaxed suddenly.

"I dunno," Lynn narrowed her eyes, leaning forward and tilting her head to one side. "Kinda too _bright_, if y'know what I mean."

Mel stifled a laugh, then turned to look at Kyo as he tugged on her sleeve again. "In a minute."

"I'm dying!" he whined. "I couldn't ask you before cuz Master Ansem said you might be dead, and I have to ask you something important!"

"This is a matter of the keyblade. I have to take this first, not matter how much you think you're dying."

"But-!"

"Shush."

"What about Red, over there?" Lynn nodded.

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot!" Sora slapped himself in the face. "That's Lea, he trains under Aqua – sometimes."

"I'm one of old Yen Sid's _mature_ students," Lea smirked at her.

"How _nice_ for you, Red." Lynn said coolly, regarding him with her chin tilted defiantly.

"Hey, Sora?" Riku asked. "Doesn't that mean we're Yen Sid's apprentices?"

"Well, you might be. But I'm one of Aqua's." Sora said stubbornly.

"You hear that Aqua? You own the saviour of the heart of all worlds!" Terra teased with a grin, ducking as she aimed a swipe at him.

"Say _wha_?" Lynn asked in a monotone.

"Sora here single-handedly defeated the most evil man in the history of the worlds!" Riku said, clapping him on the shoulders and laughing as his best friend squirmed uncomfortably.

"I didn't do it single-handedly!" he protested. "I used both of them! And I'd be a goner without you guys!"

"Wait a sec," Lynn's jaw dropped, and her bow clattered to the ground as she pointed a finger at him. "The Seeker of Darkness business-? That was _you_ who cleaned up?!"

"Well, sort of," Sora ran a hand through his hair and smiled sheepishly. "My friends Donald and Goofy helped me loads."

"_Bloody _hell! You couldn't have been more than a _kid_ back then!" Lynn was gob smacked, and she scowled when Rhiannon started laughing at her – free and unrestrained.

"Precocious little scamp, ain't he?" Ven asked, ruffling up Sora's hair with a grin, which he returned.

"You should see your face, Evie!" Rhiannon giggled, hugging herself.

"I am all astonishment," Lynn blinked. "Christ alive – you're nowhere near as tall as I thought you'd be."

Sora's face fell. "Why does everyone say that? What's wrong with my height!"

"Nothin', mate." Lynn said, waving a hand at him to calm things down. "It just makes the feat all the more amazing for being a kid of small stature at the time that the heroic deed took place, is all."

"I think we should return to the lab, Kyo," Ansem said, putting a hand on Kyo's shoulder.

"But I didn't get to talk to Mel!" he was probably hamming up the heartbreak to get his way, but Mel was too shrewd to fall for such tactics.

"All right, maybe now very quickly? I think we warriors of the keyblade have some more counciling to do before long."

"Well, I had this dream, right? Don't look at me like that!" he pleaded. "And it was all really weird and stuff,"

"Dreams often are. What happened?"

Kyo started explaining, and Aqua moved away towards Rhiannon so she could talk to Lynn some more. Terra followed and broke off to go and speak to Ven, probably to discuss what had most recently happened. Lynn seemed fairly approachable – her more loud and boisterous traits seemed to shine most brightly when she was arguing with Rhiannon, but if they had trained together that should come as no surprise. Kairi went over to see Leo, who was looking even more miserable, and Aqua decided she could handle a moping dragon by herself. She had just turned to Rhiannon to ask her if she wanted the use of their castle to stay in, when Leo screamed so loudly it made her jump, even though she had been conditioned to his roars by now.

Kairi ran out of the way as he launched himself to his feet and spun round in a rage, tail and wings flying dangerously unchecked. They all reacted at once, and Aqua was alarmed to find not only Rhiannon's keyblade trained on Leo, but also Lynn's bow with a beautifully crafted arrow notched into position. Riku and Sora intercepted Kairi and bundled her out of harms way while Terra and Ven ran towards Leo with Mel hot on their heels. Aqua made to follow them, but Leo was out of control, and they had to dive out of the way to avoid getting trampled on.

"What's wrong?" Aqua shouted over the noise he was making, and then Leo's angry scream turned to a great heaving sob, and to her astonishment he stalked around in a circle, shaking his head with big fat tears rolling down his cheeks. Then he dropped close to the ground and slowly shuffled towards Mel, rubbing his jaw against the ground and keening loudly – he was in a lot of pain.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Lynn asked in a tight voice, ready to let an arrow fly.

"Put that thing down," Ven spat at her angrily.

"Don't be so bloody ridiculous." She snapped back, jerking her head to emphasise her point. "Great big dragon nearly broke our necks? I 'ent putting this down till I'm sure he won't kill us."

"What on earth set that off?" Rhiannon asked, putting a hand on Lynn's arm to lower her aim slightly.

Mel walked towards Lynn and stopped several paces away. Her expression was neutral, and betrayed no prominent emotions. "I understand your concern, and I think given your circumstances it's rather wise, but I'll tell you now that if you hurt Leo deliberately, I won't hesitate to take you down myself."

Aqua was shocked Mel would make such a threat, and she could tell just by looking at the other's faces that they were too. Terra was frowning deeply at both her and Lynn. The nobody met her stare and nodded her ascent. "Understood. Now go find out what set him off before it happens again and someone gets hurt,"

Leo was in a crumpled heap on the floor, crying. It broke Aqua's heart to watch him, but she didn't dare follow Mel in case he started thrashing again. Much as she hated to admit it, Lynn was right – Leo could have accidentally killed someone in a blind rage like that, or most likely seriously injury; he wouldn't have realised until it was too late. Bones, like those in the neck, snapped all too easily.

Mel very carefully picked her way over to Leo, who looked up at her imploringly. "Leo. What's wrong with you?" she asked soothingly. He rubbed her jaw against the ground and groaned loudly. "Is something hurting you?" he nodded, closing his eyes and wincing. "Where does it hurt?" he raised his head and opened his mouth wide, trying to show her something.

"Does he understand what she's saying?" Lynn asked, a little loudly.

"Quiet!" Rhiannon hissed.

"Aw'right, calm down!"

"Is it your gums? Your jaw? Your teeth? Show me." Slowly Mel sifted through the evidence, and finally when she was certain he wasn't going to go ballistic again, she very, _very_ gently took his chin in her hands and peered into his mouth. She raised a hand as if to root around in it, but she didn't seem to have the nerve to do it. "Ansem?"

"Yes?"

"How is your dentistry?"

"Adequate, for this occasion, I'd wager." He said, calmly walking over to the juvenile dragon.

Aqua followed, and what she saw when she took a look for herself made her wince in sympathy. It looked like one of his milk teeth had cracked, and the fractured pieces had embedded themselves in the gums around the adult tooth that was forcing its way up. Another one of his molars towards the back looked like it was about to crack as well, and the gums around it looked angry and swollen. Aqua went to check on Kairi and ask what had happened. Shakily, she said, "I was just scratching him the way I normally do, and he started roaring."

"It seems he is losing his baby teeth," Ansem delivered the diagnosis after some consideration. "I think he might have a mild infection which has made his jaw tender. I'm rather reluctant to extricate the broken pieces of teeth in case I hurt him."

"What's happened?" Lynn asked, intrigued.

"Come see for yourself," Sora offered, and she rather fearlessly – or perhaps foolishly – stuck her head into his open jaws.

"Yowch!" she recoiled. "I know how _that_ feels,"

"You do?" Riku asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I cracked a baby tooth once and a piece got stuck as the adult one came through, only I didn't notice it until I was in agony. No wonder the poor brute went off his rocker, it's enough to drive anyone insane."

"Hey Mel," Ven said suddenly, and she turned to him with troubled eyes. "You remember that guy in Berk? Hiccup said he was the dragon's dentist or something like that. Maybe we should take Leo to see him?"

"Oh! Gobber, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that's the guy!" he turned to Aqua. "I think he should see Leo. Vikings don't seem to get hurt around dragons that easily. And he's seen load of other dragons before – he'll be able to help Leo out without getting his neck broken."

Aqua couldn't bare seeing Leo in pain, and she consented readily to the idea. "Do you think the infection will go down?"

"If the offending teeth are removed and the gums kept clean, I see no reason to give him medication." Ansem said gently. "It seems that Leo has a lot of nerve endings in his mouth, which is why he's feeling a lot of pain at the moment." He gently patted Leo's head, far away from his smarting jaws. He closed his eyes and thumped his tail weakly against the ground.

"Well, guess we'd better get going." Ven said to Mel. He turned to Aqua and said, "You coming too?"

Aqua shook her head. "I think I'll go home and get things ready for Leo for when you get back."

"Me too," Terra said quickly, making her smile at him. He saw her gaze and flushed before looking stubbornly in the opposite direction.

Ven smiled slyly at him, but didn't pass comment. Instead, he said, "We'd better get going as soon as possible."

"Is right now too soon?" Mel asked.

"Go on," Aqua said. "We'll make sure he comes home to some soup and a nice warm bed."

"Better not be hot soup," Ven waved a finger at her, but then something else struck his mind. "Actually, maybe we should spend the night there."

"Home come?" Terra asked.

"The Vikings know loads about dragons. Leo's the only one of his kind, as far as we know, but this Gobber guy will still know how to help. Maybe we should let a professional look after Leo, just until we know he's okay."

"Isn't Master Ansem a professional?" Kyo was crushed at the thought.

"No, of course he is." Mel murmured, stroking her brother's hair. "But Ansem isn't the expert on dragons. None of us here are, so I think Ven's right."

"We'd better take some camping equipment." Ven mused aloud.

"Eaves," Rhiannon clapped her on the back so she pitched forward unexpectedly with a yelp. "You got anytin' they could borrow?"

"Huh? Well, yeah I guess, but-"

"What'chuh got there?"

"Err, lemme think…ground mats, two sleeping bags, but one's for colder weather. I guess these Viking mugs have all the cooking utensils and stuff already." Lynn wondered out loud.

"Well," Ven said slowly, looking up at her. "If you could lend us those sleeping bags, that'd be great. We'll get them right back to you,"

"No need," Lynn waved him away as she sauntered over to her large bag. "If _Epona's_ around I won't be needing them anytime soon, unless I try to escape Rhi's evil clutches. You can hang on to them for a bit,"

"Hah!" Rhiannon scoffed, putting a hand on the side of Lynn's head and gently pushing so she had to turn aside slightly and lean away.

"Well, running hot water sounds mighty tempting, so I guess I could stick it out with the evil clutches. Here," she handed over two small bundles collapsed down with straps, before forking out two old and rather ratty looking foam rolls. "I live by the philosophy that as long as it fits back in the bag it doesn't matter how it's been stuffed in," she nodded at the bundles that housed the sleeping bags. "And the black one is for winter use, so don't bake yourself over night, got it?"

"Berk is quite chilly." Mel put in.

"This'll be fine. Okay, let's go!"

"I dunno what else I actually have in here…" Lynn mused, delving into her huge rucksack again.

"When have you _ever_…?" Rhiannon began with a dramatic sigh, which suddenly became a huff of annoyance before she guffawed with laughter.

Tiggy had obviously been led somewhere out of the way in their absence, and had found her way back; she made a beeline for Lynn, who was busy with her head stuck in the bag, and didn't notice the dog until she was flat on her face on the ground.

"Feck!" she looked up, dazed, and saw the huge slobbering jaws of the dog. "Tiggs!" Lynn sat back on her heels and the dog bounced into her arms with a whine of delight. "Woo-woo! Bloody 'ell you've grown!"

"Shoulda seen your face, Evie!" Rhiannon giggled, clutching her sides as Tiggy put her paws on Lynn's shoulders and pushed her to the ground again, licking her all over. "Like a brace of Weights were after ya!"

"Tiggy Woo-woo!" Lynn cooed, pulling the dog close to her and snuggling into her fur. "'Member me? I has no bacon today, sweetpea – sorry!"

After the hilarity of the moment ended, Ven and Mel got Leo as comfortable as possible before they departed for Berk, and both Rhiannon and Lynn watched him with interest, especially when he donned his own armour that covered him much as it would a wielder of the keyblade. It aggravated his pain a bit, and he stood for a while shaking his head and growling before he let himself be escorted away. Merlin popped up unexpectedly just after they left and asked for Sora and Riku's assistance in something; they dragged Kairi along with them, leaving the older Keyblade Masters and Lea with Ansem and Kyo.

"I didn't even get to ask her…" Kyo pouted, folding his arms petulantly.

"When we know Leo's all right, I'm sure she'll come back." Aqua said, patting his shoulder. "What will you do now?" she asked Rhiannon and Lynn as Kyo went to stand beside Ansem, thoroughly deflated.

"Get this ting cleaned up," Rhiannon said, giving her friend a playful smack round the back of her head.

Lynn stumbled, but didn't retaliate. She had that long suffering expression on her face, and Aqua guessed she was allowing such treatment because she felt she deserved it.

"What? Notin' to say to that, Eaves?"

"You exhaust me…" Lynn sighed dramatically, sagging deeply. "Can we get on with the abject humiliation so you can get the shouting hysterically over and done with? And then I'd like to sleep." She cautiously looked up to meet Rhiannon's eye, not holding the gaze for very long.

For a moment, it seemed Rhiannon would get angry, but she put one arm around Lynn's shoulders, and her other hand on her friend's upper arm. "C'mon, pet. Let's get'chuh that nice hot running water together, so you can have a nice long soak after I beat the stuffin' outta you." She spoke with such tenderness that it rendered her threats meaningless.

Aqua was thinking long and hard about everything that had happened that day, not to mention what had happened in New Orleans as well. That had only been a couple of days ago, and it was still only mid-afternoon when she and Terra arrived home together. He was quite pensive about something, and she chalked it up to the events of the day; he had a far away look in his eyes and she didn't bother to bring him back to reality. So they had yet _another_ bearer of the keyblade – and a nobody at that; Aqua burned with questions, but she knew better than to ask. Lynn may have felt able to be blasé about it, but Rhiannon was clearly deeply upset on her behalf, even if she tried not to let on.

This latest development could cause Aqua a real problem. She expelled her breath in a loud sigh, which brought Terra sharply to attention.

"What?" she blinked in surprise, and to her amazement he flushed and looked away. What in the name of all that was pure and sacred was going on in that head of his?

"Nothing. You just seem…preoccupied."

"Aren't you?" she countered, sighing again and shaking her head. "Much as I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, a nobody keyblade wielder…that could be bad news."

"Yeah." He said distractedly.

"What do you think we should do?" she appealed to him, but Terra looked startled at being asked his opinion.

"I- I dunno."

"Huh." Aqua scoffed, nose in the air before she turned her back on him in what she had meant to be a teasing gesture. "So much for _your_ help!"

"I'm sorry…" Terra hung his head in shame and turned away from her.

Aqua bit her lip before she slid her arms around his waist and curled up against his back. "I didn't mean…forget it. I just wanted to hear your opinion."

Terra laughed nervously – somewhat unlike his usual self. "I haven't got one."

"That's a first," she gave him a playful squeeze, and they both laughed.

They ate a light and early supper, and mostly in silence though that was comfortable enough. Aqua kept musing, and her mind meandered back to Leo every so often to wonder how he was getting on. She could understand the fuss that had been made over him with regard to the other Keyblade Masters, and the council they had held about him; she could understand the importance in all that, but it was her vested emotional interests in the dragon she had helped to raise that plagued her the most. She never liked seeing any of her loved ones in pain…

Too lazy to dry and stack the dishes, Aqua gave them a quick wash and rinse in the sink before dumping them in the drying rack. Terra gave her an amused look when they were finished and said, "So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I think," she said, stretching her arms out to ease her stiff muscles. "I'll have the longest, more luxurious bath. My shoulders are killing me…" she wasn't even sure what she had done to make them ache this way. It wasn't like she had been strenuously working out today or anything. "What about you?"

"Huh? Oh – I think I'm gonna go read." Terra said quickly, and at the first opportunity he disappeared off to the library.

Trying not to mentally add Terra's odd behaviour to her list of things to worry over, Aqua ran herself a deep, hot bath with one of the remaining bath bombs she had been given for her birthday; she would have to ask Ven which shop he had bought them from, she was almost completely out. Amidst the steam the hot water created, Aqua used an exercise Master Eraqus had taught her that usually eased the aches and pains from rigorous training; it was a bit like the breathing techniques Mel used to help her fall into a trance, and she concentrated on relaxing each limb individually until she was so tranquil and comfortable that she was in danger of falling asleep. By the time Aqua had finished, it was already dark, and beginning to get late, so she got out and rinsed her hair in the sink. She had long since discovered that the bath bombs were wonderful on her skin, and not so wonderful for her hair, and since her hair was still comparatively short it was easier just to run it under the tap. Mel had tentatively given it a trim, not trusting her skills to give it a proper cut, but she had made a tidy job of it; Aqua decided she quite liked it at this particular length, not quite long enough to be able to tie it back but long enough to reach her collar.

There was little point in changing clothes at this hour, so when she got back to her room Aqua pulled on some pyjamas with the intent of possibly reading for a bit before going to bed. She wrapped a towel around her hair and picked the other off her bed so she could dump them both in the laundry basket in the bathroom. In the corridor she heard rather than saw Terra, somewhere behind her, and she said brightly, "Hey," in greeting, intent on rubbing the towel into her hair to remove as much moisture as possible.

Something slammed into her, and Aqua yelped as she staggered sideways before she felt Terra pin her to the wall, without any warning at all; the towel in her hands fell to the floor at their feet, and the one on her hair slid down behind her head and over her shoulder.

"Terra-?" she managed to gasp, before his lips found hers. It was hard, fast, almost desperate. She couldn't speak, she could barely even breathe; she just stared at him wordlessly when he pulled back just enough for him to look into her face. Her breath caught in her throat, and she trembled under his gaze – that look that he had given her before in the past, though nowhere near as concentrated as this; the way his kisses and caresses were sometimes rougher than normal, that made her blood sing in her veins.

What was the word…?

"W-what…?" she managed to say, acutely aware of how close he was to her body, and the fact that they were the only ones in the castle tonight.

"You." Terra growled accusingly, his eyes dark and intense, and so deeply compelling. "Have been in my head _all day_." He closed his eyes and leaned his face towards hers, their noses skimming but his lips missing hers by a fraction of an inch. "You're driving me _insane_." His hands left the wall at her shoulders to caress her sides, and finally came to rest at her hips before he kissed her again hungrily, as if he couldn't get enough of her.

Aqua responded without thinking, letting her hands roam freely to find a comfortable place on his back before balling them up in the fabric of his shirt. He must have been thinking about bed too, because the usual armour and leather coverings on his arms were missing – instead she could feel the smooth rippling muscles beneath his tanned skin. She felt so giddy and light-headed; it was such a wonderful feeling, made all the more pleasurable for sharing it with him.

"Aqua," Terra said finally into the crook her of neck, groaning with the weight of his confession. "Oh, Aqua…"

"What?" she breathed, taking his face between her hands and raising him to look into her eyes.

"I love you, but…I _want_ you," she flushed, suddenly acutely aware of the proximity of his hips to hers. "Right now. So badly…"

Was there no end to her blindness? The word she had been searching for, for quite a while now when she stopped to think about it, had been staring her in the face all along.

Lust.

Terra loved her for her personality, her friendship, the experiences they had shared together, and the fact that she loved him too, of course. But the thought that he loved her for her body as well, that he _wanted_ her, in that way…the way a man wanted a woman…

Aqua pulled his face towards hers again, and met his fierce desire with her own passionate kisses. She couldn't think of a coherent sentence she could say to express how she felt, so she showed him instead with her actions that every fibre of her being was crying out in consent.

A dull consideration flitted through her mind, and she reluctantly broke away despite Terra's insistence to continue. She held up a trembling finger, trying to catch her breath.

"Hold that thought," she whispered, grabbing the towel that was jammed between her back and the wall before stooping to pick up the one on the floor. She extricated herself reluctantly from his arms, and turned her back as he leaned against the wall on his arm, breathing heavily. Aqua threw the towels at the basket in the bathroom, one of which fell limply to the floor, but she decided to leave it there.

Terra was waiting for her as she all but ran back to him, and his embrace seemed to burn her skin where they touched. It hadn't escaped either of them that he was fully clothed still, and Aqua was dressed in comparatively thin and flimsy clothing. She tried to lead the way, groping blindly for the handle to her door before they stumbled inside together. She felt his hands slip under the hem of her night shirt and slowly, torturously work their way upwards; Aqua moaned, reaching for Terra's face to hold him as close as possible, feeling their tongues dance in an embrace of their own.

When he pulled back suddenly, his hands laid flat against her skin in a firm but more distant grip, and his mouth left hers, she whimpered at the loss of contact.

What _now_?

He had wanted this, didn't he? He had initiated it – what could possibly make him change his mind now?

"Aqua," Terra said unsteadily, his breath uneven. "Are you sure…?"

She managed to give him an annoyed look, though her flushed face and heavy breathing possibly ruined the image. "What do you think?"

"It's just…" he gulped, his gaze locked onto hers. Under the soft light of her bedroom lamp, his eyes were the same shade as the sky after the red of the sunset had faded. So beautiful…but so scared, as if he was afraid she would reject him. "I didn't even ask you, and I just…" he looked lost, pleading – apparently his yearning had taken even him by surprise, and his mind was only just catching up with his actions.

Aqua responded by rocking onto the balls of her feet to reach his lips, before letting her fingers tangle in his deceptively soft hair, raking her teeth across his lower lip. She felt the satisfaction of his unhinged gasp, and his hands that reached for her in response. She very rarely had him unbalanced like that, and she enjoyed the fleeting moment as she knew he would have the tables turned against her soon enough when he recovered. Her mouth led a trail along his jaw to the hollow beneath his ear, and she savoured his shuddering reply before she spoke softly.

"Take me. Right now." She commanded.

"Aqua," he groaned before she felt his lips and teeth against her throat. His hands swept down to the backs of her thighs, and she felt him lift her up so her legs locked around his waist. "Aqua," he said again, her lips against his forehead, her hands in his hair. "What did I do?" he asked her. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"Everything." She murmured, tilting his chin up to allow her better access. "I want you Terra," she confessed. She didn't even know if there were words for how she felt right now. Her heart was like a cup, and it was overflowing; the darkness in his being seemed momentarily banished, and she basked in the light of his love for her. It came as a surprise when he nuzzled at her cheek, and came away with a tear on his nose; she gently pressed her fingers to her eyes and found it was her own. "You're driving me crazy," she whispered to him. "I love you so much…I want you, too…"

They somehow made it to the bed, and she felt the familiar texture of the blankets beneath her, the give in the mattress as the weight shifted, and then an unfamiliar but comfortable weight above her was added. Aqua let everything else go, freeing her mind to focus solely on the here and now – just her and Terra, no one else existed at that moment.

Just her, and her dark haired bright hearted lover.

XOXOX


	19. Day Dreaming

**AN: tah-dah! :D I hope to bring more action and adventurousness in general to the next chapter; I needed to set up a few things in a mildly dramatic and hopefully technical manner :P**

**Any feed back you may have of a positive/negative/neutral nature is greatly and massively appreciated, so drop me a review and let me know what you think :)**

_**Day Dreaming**_

"Hey Hiccup!" Ven called cheerfully, jogging on the spot to keep warm. It was much colder than they had anticipated, and Mel had pulled out her hooded cardigan from her satchel, and was rummaging for something that Ven could wear.

Hiccup himself was clad in a thick fur over coat, but seemed cheerful enough despite the weather. "Hey guys!" he called the lesson he was holding to an end and trudged across the arena to greet them properly, kicking snow drifts out of his way as he went. "How's it going?"

"It's okay. Listen, I have a favour to ask," Ven motioned to Leo, sat behind them miserably nursing his smarting jaw. "Leo's got something wrong with his teeth, and we didn't know anyone else who could help. He went mental earlier today and nearly flattened us all because someone touched a sore spot on his jaw."

"His teeth, huh?" Hiccup walked up to Leo with firm and sure confidence, who consented to open his mouth to show as he knew now they were only trying to help. "Ouch! That looks nasty," Hiccup winced in sympathy. "I'll take you to see Gobber right away, he knows enough about dragons in general – I'm sure he can help,"

"Come on Leo," Mel said gently, coaxing him to follow them. She was glad and unsurprised that Hiccup was so willing to help, she just hoped that there was something that could be done for Leo. She liked to tease him about being her baby, but she genuinely felt that way about him – she didn't want him upset or in pain, and felt she would do almost anything to protect him.

Gobber was a nice but extremely eccentric man with only one hand and one leg, who lived at the top end of the slope the village was built on so they had to trudge through the freezing slush to get there. He was certainly not dim, but he was very set in his ways, and had his own unique way of doing things. Mel handed Leo into his care, and stood by anxiously stroking his neck to keep him calm while Gobber put Leo's upper jaw into a rope contraption that would keep his maw wide open while he conducted his examination – a precaution she wasn't entirely sure was needed, though she let it slide since she was hardly the expert herself. Ven stood on Leo's other side, scratching his neck and murmuring soothing words of encouragement while Hiccup stood beside Gobber, watching with interest at what the man was doing. He seemed to be making mental notes, and Mel guessed he would probably be the one performing dental services himself to the dragons of the island one day.

They waited while Gobber rooted around in Leo's mouth, humming and singing to himself while Leo closed his eyes with a grimace and whimpered pitifully. "Sssh." Mel said gently, rubbing a spot on the underside of his jaw on the right, a place that never failed to appease him in the past. "It'll all be over soon. You're doing really well." His tail thumped feebly against the hard, ice covered ground.

"Well!" Gobber said loudly in a thick accent typical of Berk, pulling back with the clamp that was in place of his left hand; a large tooth was stuck in the vice. "There's ya problem, lads and lass!"

"Is he okay?" Mel asked apprehensively as Leo groaned loudly, shifting his limbs uneasily. He had never had his top jaw held up like this before, attached to the sturdy post above his head – he'd only ever held still for a short amount of time to have his teeth looked at, and this was acutely uncomfortable for him – never mind the fact that he had metal implements brushing against his sensitive gums as well.

"Eh, he's fine, lass. Just a little baby tooth. See, the grown up ones are comin' through, and this little one here was about to get stuck between the new one and his gums. Nothin' to worry about, but it can be quite painful if you don't extract them in time, like we have here. Now, let's have another little look…"

Gobber identified no less than five wobbly teeth in total, and guessed which ones would be next. "And I'm guessin' that one is going to crack as well," he tapped the molar Ansem had identified, making Leo shudder, though he didn't attempt to rampage as he had before. "Ye can tell by the gums of a dragon what the teeth underneath are doin' underneath. The next lot are goin' to be even stronger than these, so a few of these little baby teeth are going to break apart before they get a chance to fall out, because of the pressure from the teeth inside the gums. Just like this one," he said, showing them the fragments of the tooth he had carefully extricated from around the emerging adult tooth. "Other than that, he's in excellent condition! Now then, a few of these wobbly teeth – I can remove the looser ones for you to stop him from getting in a pickle like he did today, but the others will have to fall out in their own time. You'll have to watch him carefully, mind you. Any more problems and you bring him straight back to me, you got that lass?"

That was a blessed relief to know, and when Goober had finished he removed the rope that had held Leo's head fast, and he got to close his mouth and sit down with his head on the ground, eyes closed but this time with bliss. He hummed with sedated happiness, and the crack of his tail on the hard earth was noticeably more animated.

Mel tried to offer some sort of payment, but Gobber wouldn't have any of it. "First time's on the house!" he said brightly, taking the clamp off his left arm and sticking a mace in its stead. "Next time, you'll owe me. All right? See you lot later! And give my regards to your father, Hiccup." He stumped off happily down the slope with a wave.

"Thanks Gobber!" Hiccup called after him with a wave.

Mel held up the teeth that had been extracted, somewhat awed. "The next ones are going to be _stronger_?" she asked in amazement. That didn't bode well for their armour…Terra wasn't going to be happy at all!

"All right, boy?" Ven asked, scratching his chest. Leo rolled over onto his back and stretched out under the playful touch, his humming increasing in volume. "See? That wasn't so bad!"

"I can't thank you enough," Mel said to Hiccup, beaming with happiness to see Leo back to his old self.

"That's all right," Hiccup said, a bit embarrassed. "It's the least I could do to help."

Since Leo was now missing a few teeth, and because his gum was still a bit inflamed, they decided to spend the night as they had planned, regardless of the quick ease with which the problem had been dealt with. Leo sat happily with Toothless through the Viking youths' lessons for the afternoon, and enjoyed the meal of meaty broth that had been pulverised especially for him that evening. Mel and Ven demonstrated a few new fighting techniques to the other teens, and spent the evening meal with what seemed the entire faculty of the island in the Great Hall. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and it reminded Mel of several similar get-togethers with the other keyblade wielders, and the rest of the gang in Radiant Garden; there were fights and arguments, of course, but it was all good humoured and amicable, and everyone shared what they had to offer with everyone else. Mel sat with the local healer and the mute shaman swapping ideas and remedies for a while, and in the mean time Ven had gotten himself into several arguments with a couple of the youths at the academy, debating heatedly to pros and cons of the reverse grip. He should have won by default because Aqua kept his discussion skills sharp with constant practise, but the boy named Snotlout was just doing it to stir things up, and didn't care how silly and immature – or just pain stupid – his arguments were, just so long as they provoked a reaction. And of course, Ven was conditioned to respond with annoyance the same way he rose to Terra and Lea's baiting. Only they all knew where to draw the line, and normally Aqua or Kairi or _someone_ by now would have stepped in and told them all to shut up. As it happened, Mel had to worm her way into the conversation and carefully extricate Ven from it as the night was wearing on and people were starting to drift off home.

"You know you shouldn't let people wind you up like that." Mel told him as they followed Hiccup to his house. As the dwelling of the chief, it had enough space for visitors, and since they had borrowed the sleeping bags all they needed was a patch of floor and a couple of extra blankets.

"I don't like Snotlout." Ven said petulantly, glowering up at the star spangled sky above.

"So I had noticed." Mel said with a sigh, smiling at Leo who had perked up tremendously, and was currently engaged in a game of tag with Toothless and Stormfly.

Astrid called her own dragon away, and Mel and Hiccup marshalled their own into order before they went inside for the night. After a few minutes of rummaging around they had set up a comfortable sleeping spot, using Leo as a space heater alongside the roaring fire in the centre of the house, and said goodnight to Hiccup and his father. With the fire and Leo's warm belly, Mel ended up discarding the extra blankets she had been given, and Ven crawled out of his borrowed sleeping bag in favour of lying on top of it and pilfered the blankets from Mel.

They talked together for a bit, about nothing in particular for a while, before the subject settled round on birthdays; Kairi's mini surprise birthday, the fact that Terra's was coming up, and what Mel had planned for Kyo's twenty-first.

"There seemed to be quite a few birthdays together in a clump." Mel remarked, tracing the shape of carved wooden beams that vaulted the ceiling. They were fashioned after dragons and serpents, and were of extraordinary beauty – she was going to try and sketch a few before they left.

"What about you? When's your birthday?" Ven asked sleepily, closing his eyes and snuggling down into his bed pallet.

"May." She said vaguely, her mind elsewhere. Subtle energies always fascinated her, and when she stayed over for a night in a new place they seemed just as fascinated with her. Most of the time she acknowledged them politely, and then blocked them out in favour of living in the physical world.

"Mel?"

"Hmm?" she rolled over to look at his face questioningly in the light from the hearth.

"Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, I was miles away."

Ven raised an eyebrow, and then laughed. "What was it _this_ time?" he grinned.

Mel smiled. "I was just thinking about the other entities in this house." She told him truthfully. It didn't always come up in conversation, but when it did Aqua asked her endless questions on the subject – Ven and Terra were quite happy to accept her quirky behaviour without comment. Possibly because in their own way, they could hardly talk.

"Like what? The spirits of the earth or whatever all around us?" Ven teased.

Mel rolled onto her back again and looked up at the intriguingly carved rafters of the dwelling. "There's a snake spirit over by the fireplace," she pointed without looking, knowing she was there. "And three owls up there by the ceiling. Outside the front door is a wolf and Eagle Medicine spirit. The whole of this island is protected by them – it's no wonder the Vikings always managed to recover from attacks so quickly." Her speech was met with silence and she twisted her head around to look at him. "What?"

Ven shook his head, expression awed. "You're _bizarre_, Mel."

Mel bit her lip. She liked how she could be open and honest with Ven and the others – she wasn't about to be run out for being a witch or a demon speaker, but she did still worry sometimes that she should keep her lips sealed about certain things. It was…difficult, being the only shaman around; she had loved being able to speak with Gothi that evening – even though they had primarily used hand signs and drawings in a pile of sandy soil – because she was like Mel. As much as it was a blessed relief to finally be able to learn about the keyblade, and how to wield it responsibly among other people of her calling, she still stood out even amid her own ilk. And as much as she loved Leo fiercely, he was yet another factor that drove her differences to everyone around her into sharper relief.

"Hey," Ven raised a hand and smoothed the lines of worry from her face. "What's wrong?"

Mel bit her lip and sighed, eyes cast away. "I know you were joking, but…" she didn't know what to say to him. "I always feel like I stick out, no matter where I go. And…I'm used to not telling people about what I can do, what I can sense. Because that's when, well…" she really didn't want to finish that thought.

Ven looked upset that he had inadvertently hurt her, but then he brightened up with a grin and a soft laugh. "No big deal! We all stick out one way or another. You just have abilities that make you stick out, that are actually _useful_. The rest of us goofs just get ourselves into trouble with our talents! Just look at Sora!"

Mel stifled a giggle. "Yes, Sora's definitely got real talent in the outer reaches of the spectrum. I'll give you that,"

Ven grinned at her and propped himself up on his elbow comfortably. "So what are the spirits doing?"

His question took her by surprise, and it took a moment for Mel to recover and another moment to reach for the energy systems to find the answer. "The snake is listening, and the others are ignoring us."

Ven looked intrigued. "Can you really tell that?"

"Well…yeah,"

"How?"

Mel sat up and crossed her legs, thinking of how to explain it. "Energy…leaves patterns, and if you can read the shape and the tenor of the pattern, you can figure out who it is and how they are feeling. I just sort of…_know_, if that makes sense. Like…like how you can reach out and feel for someone's heart, and you just _know_."

Ven nodded sagely, mulling it all over in his mind. "That's kinda cool, but…" he smiled sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair, a nervous quiver running through his energy for a moment. "I don't think I really understand."

Mel smiled sadly. "It's the sort of thing that makes far more sense when you feel it for yourself. I can never really describe it properly."

They talked for a bit longer, and Ven finally gave up with his questioning when Mel felt herself capsizing. She let sleep take her, but her dreams were plagued by the infuriating shadows of monsters and the fringes of a nightmare that stubbornly refused fully manifest where she could confront it – it stayed at the edges, a menacing horizon of bubbling black clouds that hid the horrors that lay beyond. She told her body to lie still before she pinched herself to check it really was a dream, and felt nothing – though it wasn't much comfort. When the vague and menacing shadows at the edges of the horizon started to leak into her field of vision, she watched with dismay as a repeat of her last night in Dragon's Spring played out in front of her. She shook her head hard and stamped her feet – it was just a dream, and she had resolved most of the heartache that night had left her with. Only…

When Kyo ran past her and straight towards the rolling black mists, she called after him, but he shook his head and without his lips moving she heard him say, "Gotta bring Tom back." Mel followed him, half of her mind accepting it was just a dream and therefore not real, and the other half worrying itself over his safety. Her baby brother – she couldn't bear it if something happened to him, not now – not _ever_.

She turned when she heard an almighty crack, and saw the ground had ripped open like an earthquake, disrupting a bubbling spring and a waterfall that looked vaguely familiar. From the trees that had sprung out of the earth around the rift, lots of different animals she was sure she had seen before were circling around a single point on the ground, marked by a symbol she could see clearly but could not remember at all the moment she looked away. Out of the bushes came _her _wolf – that part of her that manifested in the place of dreams and meditation, that _was_ her; small and lean, dusty red and gold fur mixed with copper and bronze, with bright yellow eyes. But why was she here? She usually only came to Mel when called – what did she have to say?

The red wolf sat back on her haunches and raised her head to yip and yowl melodically before it became a deep-throated howl of such varying pitch it was like she was truly singing. The melody was cut off abruptly with another rending of the earth, but this time it reached to the ominous horizon, and seemed to split the world itself wide open. Mel threw her hands up to protect herself from the blast and tried to pinch her arm to check it was still a dream, but she couldn't reach her arm no matter how hard she tried.

And then she heard her mother screaming, telling her to escape, and she collapsed to her knees with tears in her eyes. No amount of talking it through out loud with a sympathetic ear could ever ease the knot of guilt in her heart.

"I'm sorry!" she shouted into the abyss.

A coyote jumped out of the shadows, something in its mouth. The canine stood before her, amber eyes fixed on her face; it was scruffy and lean, and incredibly long limbed, and in its mouth was a chain, like the ones found on a keyblade. The form shimmered so she couldn't guess what it looked like, or if it did indeed belong on a keyblade. The coyote tossed its head back, and a raven swooped down to catch the chain in its beak before it flew off. The coyote stood up on its hind legs and raked at the air with its front paws, whining plaintively. Then it was gone without a trace – just blinked out of existence as if it had not been there. Mel felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and when she turned to look over her shoulder her red wolf appeared by her side howling a lament to the shadows.

She screamed, and thrashed at what she saw behind her in the gap that had been torn between the worlds. It was imperative that she escape. She _had_ to. A part of her mind sat in stillness and tranquillity, acknowledging what she saw passively. The rest of her screamed in terror and retreated.

"Mel!"

She sat up in the dim light from the coals in the hearth, shaking violently. She felt hot all over, and decidedly sick. Ven had shaken her awake, and she was intensely grateful – a nightmare like that didn't just go away of its own accord; you needed to be dragged out of it with help.

"Mel, what is it?" Ven asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Mel groped in the darkness and felt Leo's warm muzzle; he snorted hot air over her hands and licked her face.

"J-just a dream." She said, laughing shakily. "It was just a- a dream."

"You okay?" Ven asked, looking at her face intently, frowning in concern.

Mel didn't like it when Ven frowned – it made him look years older, and it brought a snag to his aura that grated against itself.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I-it was a bit…"

"Scary?"

Mel nodded mutely, swallowing. The nausea had gone as swiftly as it had come, and now that the object of her terror was no longer upon her, the sweat on her skin cooled down and began to chill her. She shivered from the cold and drew her sleeping bag closer to her body. She took a notebook from her satchel and quickly wrote out what she remembered before she forgot, so she could think and meditate on it later. Right now, though, she was more concerned with being able to get back to sleep without being terrified; dreams were after all in the head, where they couldn't hurt you, but it was also within her head where her imagination lay. Every shadow and darkened corner of the room had the nameless, faceless horror she had seen lurking just beyond the reach of the light, that she could not fully remember. It would be a very long night…

"You wanna talk about it?" Ven whispered as Mel buried herself deeply into the blankets and the sleeping bag.

"Not now. It's too dark." She said, not wanting to elaborate for fear of making her terrors come true in the darkness of the night by saying them out loud.

Ven lay still for a moment as she settled herself down facing the fire, her back to him. Then she jumped out of her skin as she felt something wrap itself around her waist. She yelped, and reached up to pinch herself and winced at the sharp pain in her arm.

Awake, _I'm wake_. She told herself sternly.

"Aqua used to lie with me like this when I had a nightmare." Ven said softly, spooning her against his body. "It helped."

Mel nodded, trying to push the unpleasantness from the dream to the back of her mind for sorting and filing later. She lay stiffly for a while, concentrating on her breathing, but as Ven slowly drifted off to sleep she found herself relaxing in his embrace, listening to the sound of his breathing as it slowed and evened out into a comforting rhythm. Leo nudged himself closer to Mel, and she put her arms around his neck just behind his jaws and buried her face in his feathered hide. He cooed softly and pressed his muzzle into her stomach, before he too slid into a peaceful slumber.

Between Leo's huge and solid presence, Ven's comforting embrace, as well as the flicker of concern she felt from the subtle energies, Mel let herself drift off to sleep again, but this time she was not plagued by unnameable nightmares. She thought she had opened her eyes in the solid land of the living, but she watched her wolf jump over the hearth in the centre of the room, and followed by that was a large dog – a golden retriever – and they ran together into the distance, into a rising sun while a dragon shaped shadow lay on the ground behind them.

Mel jerked when something brushed against her cheek and she opened her eyes again. No sunlight, no dog, and no wolf – just the inside of the wooden house and the dying embers of the hearth fire that still exuded an ample amount of heat. She disengaged a hand from Leo's neck, making him grumble and stir in his sleep, and felt over her shoulder for the disturbance. Ven had snuggled up closer to her in his sleep, and the thing that had brushed against her cheek turned out to be his chin, though it had slid to her neck now after she had shifted.

It felt…really nice, having Ven so close. She remembered curling up with Kyo and Tom when she was younger like this; it brought back many happy and comforting memories that helped her drift yet again to sleep, the golden haired dog bounding alongside the red wolf through her settled dreams, followed by several other animals and an impression of colour that settled neatly on a medicine wheel – blue, red, brown and green.

XOXOX

The first thing Terra was aware of was that he was incredibly comfortable, and had no desire to move. His body felt more relaxed than it had in a long time, and he was quite happy to stay exactly where he was for as long as possible. However, when he felt his pillow shift not long after he came to, he forced himself to open his eyes, and saw the pale arch of Aqua's throat in front of his nose. He was curled up beside her on his right side, and Aqua herself was splayed on her back under the sheets, completely oblivious to the world.

Oh, that was right. Last night, they…

His cheeks flushed as memories trickled through his mind at random, with no sense of order. Terra very gently sat up, and Aqua's left arm slowly slid from his back to the blanket tangled at the base of his spine; he carefully balanced himself on his arm, and raised the other to gently stroke the hair out of Aqua's eyes. Her lips were parted in her sleep, her head inclined in the direction where he had been lying, cuddled up with his head in the crook of her neck. Terra couldn't keep the silly little grin off his face as his fingers traced the outline of her messy fringe, and down the sides of her cheekbones to her jaw. Aqua was so exceptionally beautiful…

The arm that hadn't been draped around him was angled beside her head, her hand lying above against the pillow. As Terra gently caressed her face, her fingers flexed, and her other arm moved as if to find where the surface it had thought it was laying on had gone. Slowly, Aqua's body twitched and shifted as she began to wake up; she tensed her shoulders as she stretched her arms out before collapsing in dishevelled grace once again. Terra waited while she took a deep breath, held it for a moment, before breathing out slowly in a calm and controlled manner. Then she opened her eyes and looked up at him, watching her closely, and by the faint tinge to her cheeks, he knew she was thinking of the same thing as him.

"Good morning," she said in a hushed, self-conscious tone.

"Morning," he said quietly, letting his fingers stroke her face again, enjoying the rise in colour of her skin that his touch invoked. "How are you feeling?"

"Err…" she closed her eyes and turned her head aside as he bent down and let his lips ghost along her throat teasingly. "A-amazing…" she moaned softly, fingers tangling in his hair. "You?"

Terra chuckled, drawing back enough so he could see her expression, and smiled at her. "Just great."

Aqua giggled and he raised an eyebrow at her before she said, "You look so funny when you do that!"

"Do what?" he asked, flushing with embarrassment as she laughed at him.

Aqua sat up straight, taking care to bunch the blanket around her chest before she wrapped her arms around his neck. "That smile…you look so adorable." She teased him by keeping her lips just out of reach.

Terra gave her the goofy looking smile that she was so fond of, and reached for the blanket bunched around her collarbone.

"Terra!" she squeaked, pushing him away and scuttling backwards so she nearly fell off the bed. She let him help her up again, but pushed his hands away to clamp the covers down over her body. "What's wrong with you?" she snapped, her face bright red.

"What? It's not like I haven't seen it before, now." He asked, bewildered.

"That…that's different, and totally beside the point!"

Terra didn't think that made much sense, but she was obviously flustered, and while he enjoyed winding her up he didn't want her to feel hurt or used at all.

"You don't…?" how could he put this without coming across as insensitive or rude? "I mean…" what should he say? He sighed and hung his head, and jumped when he felt Aqua curling up against his chest, her eyes shaded by the shadow he cast. "Do you have any regrets?" he might as well be as honest as possible.

Aqua's achingly beautiful smile made his heart do strange things in his chest. "Nope. You?"

"No way," he leaned down to kiss her lips, and pressed her into the mattress as her grip on the blanket slackened in favour of holding him instead.

When they finally got up and dressed, they decided just to have a lazy day, which was fine by Terra. Last night, he had just been consumed in that single moment when he saw her towelling her hair dry in the corridor – he hadn't thought of anything, her reaction, the consequences, _anything_. But wasn't that what Mama Odie had told him he needed? To stop being afraid if his emotions and not be afraid to show them. Well, that was the gist of what she had meant…he thought, at least. Either way, after the way Aqua had reacted that morning he had an irrational fear that things would change between them, but like most of his fears they were completely unfounded. The only difference was that Aqua was very prone to blushing, and she kept smiling shyly at him whenever their gazes met. It was – in her own words – adorable, and so dreadfully appealing that he could not help but reach for her to hold in his arms every time he saw that expression.

It was such a nice day weather wise, they went for a walk and found a spot in the sun on a stretch of grass away from the beaten trail and just lay there together; her head on his shoulder, snuggled up against his side. He enjoyed the moment, the feel of her fingers laced through his, resting on his stomach, and the rise and fall of her chest beside him as she breathed slowly and calmly. It was, just…bliss.

They were roused by a familiar roar and sat up in time to get bowled over by an ecstatic Leo who fawned over them, rubbing his muzzle against their faces and squealing with delight. They both fussed over him and exclaimed loudly about his tooth problem that had been fixed, and looked up when they heard Ven's accusing voice floating along in the slight breeze.

"_There_ you are!" he strode over, grinning from ear to ear with a pronounced spring in his step. "We've been looking for you!" Mel appeared at his side, slightly out of breath after having run to keep up with him. "Guess what!" Ven crowed with delight while Leo sat down beside Aqua and leaned heavily against her, begging for attention. "We've found the coolest game ever!"

"Oh yeah?" Terra challenged, grabbing him in a headlock once he was close enough. "What's that?"

"Dragon hopping!" Ven laughed happily, and Terra was surprised to see Mel with an expression on her face that was _almost_ but just not quite a grin.

"It's _amazing_." She said in a low and ardent tone. "Mostly for the adrenaline rush, but it's so much fun!"

"What is?" Aqua asked, examining Leo's mouth. "And how did the dentist go?"

"His baby teeth are fine for the moment, and I think we can handle it ourselves if it happens again. Basically, his adult teeth are way stronger than his baby teeth, which is why they started breaking apart."

"He's essentially teething again." Mel added with a fond smile. "Hiccup showed us something he does with Toothless. They fly up really high into the sky, and then they do a free fall together. We tried with Leo." She eyes were shining. "You've got to try it!"

"I think someone's been a bad influence on you," Terra grinned, mussing up her hair with both of his hands.

"Which one would that be?" she asked evenly, still beaming.

"I'll just blame Ven because it's most convenient, but it's probably Sora's fault, too."

"Just you try it!" Ven challenged, unable to hide his own grin. "You try it once and tell me it's not the most fun thing you've ever done in your entire life!"

Terra was startled as they made their way slowly towards the castle – Ven and Mel in front chatting excitedly about their new game, Leo sauntering after – by Aqua's arms wrapping themselves around him from behind, and her lips near his ear that murmured, "I can think of something that's more fun…"

Terra smirked and looked over his shoulder at her. "Please Aqua, not in front of the children!"

Her response was to spin him round so he was facing her, and draw him in for a passionate kiss. He couldn't keep from thinking of the previous night, and his body was beginning to get carried away with itself as Ven started shouting at them from the path higher up.

"Stop trying to get in each other's pants already! I'm hungry!"

"We can always cook something ourselves," Mel said more quietly though still audible from this distance.

"Terra!" Ven yelled at him, drawing out the last syllable into a prolonged whine.

Aqua's smile was mischievous as she gazed up at him, the sunlight playing in her eyes with a twinkle. "I guess we could always continue this later…?" she asked, her own face flushing at her meaning.

Terra brushed his lips against hers one more time before taking her hand and saying, "I look forward to it,"

Ven would _not_ shut up about the new game they had devised, and while Mel smiled and added to his story, she seemed a bit more preoccupied by something than she had first let on. Terra probably only noticed it because Aqua spent a few minutes trying to get Ven to calm down, and so he was left with Mel in the kitchen where she sat in unguarded contemplation for a few moments before noticing his presence and masking her expression.

"Something up?" he asked, trying to sound casual and not so concerned.

"Quite possibly." Came the soft, cryptic response.

Terra rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrow at her to convey his playful annoyance and she shrugged, looking away from him at the window, folding her arms and rubbing her upper arms as if to work her nerves out of her system.

"I had a very odd and interesting dream, that is probably loaded with meaning." She explained quietly, her mind very far away. "I'm trying to work it out, and not having a lot of success at the moment. It's not something I can ask anyone to help me with – it's one of those things that annoyingly is the onus of the one who dreamt it to decipher."

Terra couldn't help but smile. Mel was oh so typically _Mel _about these things. It was kind of funny, and should by now come as no surprise.

"All right, that's fair enough. You sure there's nothing I can do?"

Mel looked a bit hesitant, but didn't retreat when Terra walked over to put an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him from her diminutive height with a small smile and said, somewhat hopefully, "Could you make me some pasta with ham and cheese? I think a good meal would help my brain think."

Terra laughed and leant down to pick Mel up and squeezed her. Aqua had always violently rejected his attempts to be the 'big brother' when they were children – she wouldn't let herself be out done by him, so it was wonderful to be able to be that big brother for Mel, abject teasing and humiliation and all.

"I think you can put me down now." She said in restrained voice as Terra hugged her tightly.

"Nope." He grinned.

"You're restricting my lungs…"

"Oops, sorry!" he set her back down on her feet, and she staggered before regaining her balance.

"So…" she looked up, still quietly hopeful. "About that pasta…?"

XOXOX

"That's so cool!" Sora enthused, bouncing on the spot as Ven gushed to tell him about the skydiving exertion after their trip to the dragon dentist.

"I know! You've gotta try it some time! Leo loved it!"

Leo himself was curled up in a patch of sunlight, spreading his wings to soak up the rays of warmth against the bitter wind that blew through the air. Aqua rubbed him behind the ears and his tail slammed into the ground happily with a succession of thuds. She was glad to see him so energetic again – it meant he was more liable to cause havoc, but he was at least acting like his usual self.

Kyo had caught Mel and they were exchanging stories about dreams they had had (it seemed Mel had a particularly vivid one she had mentioned to Terra, but said little else about) and were helping each other puzzle them out. Kyo's ideas seemed a little too fantastical, even by the standards set by Shamanism, but Mel humoured him and enjoyed his high spirits as he came up with even more bizarre stories to explain what she had seen. Terra was stood to one side with Cloud and Leon, talking about something military related for the town – they wanted a keyblader's opinion, and his magic skills were none too shabby so they asked for his opinion from that perspective. It made Aqua smile; Terra was enjoying himself, giving his judgement and being listened to, and making a significant contribution. It was a bit wearing on all four of them to be constantly around each other, especially Ven and Terra – as much as they loved each other fiercely, they were constantly in conflict as Masters and each wanting to be heard over the other. They were still boys at heart, and boys fought with each other no matter how insignificant the cause. With Ven busy regaling a wide-eyed Sora and Riku with their exploits in Berk, Terra could be the centre of attention without any ensuing bickering.

Aqua shook her head, unable to keep the wide smile from her lips. Then, as Terra listened sagely to what Leon was saying, his gaze wandered over towards Aqua across the square, and their eyes met. She couldn't stop the blush in her cheeks or the shy and retiring expression that came to her face, which only intensified when Terra smiled at her. When he finished his conversation and excused himself from their company, he walked over straight and tall with a cocky sort of confidence that would normally have her rolling her eyes – only this time she fought the desire to hide her face. She felt a hand on her waist and made herself lift her chin to meet his gaze again, remembering vividly _that_ night. The smouldering look in Terra's eyes didn't exactly help to keep her pulse calm. Nor did the way he caressed the side of her face and neck. For a few glorious moments she had managed to have him unhinged, completely at her mercy – and then the git had managed to worm his way around her defences, and now had a new weapon to hold against her.

Not that Aqua minded so much, only that she didn't exactly want to make a spectacle of herself in public. The thought of the way Terra could make her feel…she wasn't prepared or willing to display that side of herself so openly. That was just between the two of them.

Mel was extremely switched on and in tune with people, so she couldn't have missed the subtle differences in the way they were behaving towards each other. Either way, she acted no differently than she ever did, except she was preoccupied with her own thoughts on something else. Ven hadn't noticed…_yet_. Though if Terra tried to embarrass her by jumping on her out in the open at a time when she wasn't willing to resist, he was bound to find out. And then the teasing would never end, again…

Aqua was saved from giving the game away early on by the arrival of Rhiannon, with Lynn and Tiggy in tow. The dog bounced around Terra's legs, yipping loudly and begging for attention, slobbering all over him. Aqua giggled at the look on his face as he tried to deal with the dog, but Lynn came to his rescue.

"Tiggs, come'ere!"

The hybrid happily bounded over to where the woman was crouched waiting for her, and then proceeded to stretch out luxuriously while Lynn rubbed her belly and fussed over her.

"Yes, we like that don't we, you great stupid ball of fluff you!" she drawled, giving the dog a good scratch.

"I don't know how you do it," Rhiannon sighed, walking on past her friend with her head hanging low. "The great lump never does what I ask."

"Cause you 'ent the alpha to her. Are you?" she went on, falling in a heap beside Tiggy and letting her sit up and lick her face all over, using the sort of voice you would speaking to a baby you were overly fond of. "No, Rhi's not bossy enough for you! More's the pity," she added in an undertone.

Rhiannon gave her a withering look, and then Tiggy bounced up and ran off when she heard Angelo barking. Lynn got to her knees and then to her feet, dusting copious amounts of fur from her clothing.

"Bloody 'ell! I might as well inhale the damn stuff,"

Aqua took the opportunity to dance out of Terra's reach and walk over to Lynn before he could recover from the slobbery attack and grab her.

"Top'o the-" Lynn took an exaggerated glance at her watch. "Afternoon to ya." She smiled sweetly at Rhiannon's glower. The moment she turned her back, Lynn's expression became neutral.

Lynn looked decided cleaner and more well groomed this time around, and she was wearing an interesting outfit. She wore black leggings under a pair of close fitting dark grey boots, and a sort of mini skirt in a pale grey with sliver curly 'S' shapes adorning the pockets. Her black top had only one thin strap over her left shoulder, and ended just above her navel; over that she wore another top of sheer white fabric that ran from her right shoulder and hung low down to her left side well underneath her shoulder, with a large and artfully baggy sleeve that ended at her right elbow before hanging down in folds unless she held up her arm, then it would hang as a near perfect rectangle. Without the black top underneath, she probably would have been flashing an ample and presumptuous amount of skin with that white top; the bottom hem was much higher than that of the black top underneath.

On her waist Lynn wore a wide belt that had buckles for the sheaths of her various blades, and a few other implements as well tucked away into her pockets. A sort of harness of leather straps was incorporated into the black top around the back, which held her bow securely out of the way but within easy reach, and her quiver had been modified to attach to her belt and skirt on her right side; she sported a pair of archer's gloves in black with yellow markings. Her left arm had a leather band that had been worked with a design of arum lilies surrounded by flame like tendrils wrapped around her bicep, and she wore two rings – one on her left thumb, a thick Celtic silver band; and one on her right middle finger, only just visible and sporting a green jewelled leaf in a gold band. The only other jewellery she wore was a plain silver chain with a golden cross that had two wings etched into it, and a pair of black-hooped earrings with feathers and various semi precious stones hanging from short chains beneath them. It was quite the transformation from the scrappy, dull coloured and concealing clothes she had arrived in, and the lack of excess material hiding her limbs emphasised her build. Lynn was incredibly tall, but she was also incredibly slender with it – she didn't look capable of dealing heavy blows, or withstanding any dealt to her. Aqua wondered what her fighting style was like, whether there was a mass of wiry muscle underneath her clear skin, or else how she compensated for her build.

It took a moment for Aqua to realise she was staring, and she blinked before casting her eyes to one side out of politeness. That was certainly rude of her…

Lynn couldn't have missed it, but she chose not to ignore Aqua's discourteous actions. Instead she folded her arms and kicked back her right leg behind her left and balanced on the ball of her foot, and adopted a somewhat dispassionate expression. She wasn't trying to look intimidating, or even friendly – she was just sort of _there_…

"Eaves," Rhiannon called, walking over and clapping her on the back.

Irritation flashed across Lynn's face, but she was looking at a point over Aqua's shoulder, and it mollified itself into resignation quite quickly.

"What now?"

"Come with me,"

Lynn sighed, face tilted towards the ground before she swung her arms and leg back into position. She met Aqua's gaze with her own, and Aqua inwardly recoiled from her right eye before she could help it. That flat yellow colour didn't stir up many happy memories for her. It was impossible to tell if she had noticed, but Lynn tipped her a polite salute, bowed her head respectfully, and followed Rhiannon without another word, Tiggy bouncing after her with a howl of delight.

Leo scuttled over in her wake and licked Aqua's cheek, imitating a whine for attention. He didn't like Tiggy it seemed, and he wasn't happy that Mel had spent a few minutes fussing over both dogs rather than him. He had the look of a wounded lover, which made Aqua laugh and scratch his head.

"No one could ever replace you," she assured him.

The rest of the day was spent doing odd jobs and swapping news, in between chasing heartless. Sora and Riku were holding a competition to see who could dispatch the most, and Aqua found Kairi trailing after Ven as the evening drew in looking decidedly weary. She had at first tried to join in with the boys' antics, and then grown bored before she ditched them altogether to goof off by themselves; Kairi settled in beside Yuffie to get some soup that was on offer from the kitchen before she found a space beside Ven outside in the square. Someone had lit a campfire in a metal basin on raised legs in the centre, and it was pouring out a generous amount of heat in the chill of the gathering dusk, so most people were willing to brave the cold for some fresh air.

Ansem had come to check on Leo, and Kyo had brought a couple of teenagers to introduce to Mel at the same time. She was sat beside Aqua nursing a bowl of broth, and they both smiled as Kyo happily introduced his two new friends, and hovered somewhat anxiously as he waited for Mel's approval. It seemed they had met him through the Committee; Joseph, or Joey as Kyo called him, was a sort of apprentice to Cid, and the thick leather belt festooned with spanners, wrenches and screw drivers seemed to support the claim. Joey was quite stocky, with a cheerful disposition and bright ginger hair the exact same colour as a ripe orange, and impossibly pale blue eyes. The other teen was a girl of average height, and quite a curvy figure with pale blonde hair that was a shade darker at the roots named Ashlyn, though both the boys referred to her as Ashy. It turned out she was Rinoa's Goddaughter, and was staying with her for some time while Ashlyn's mother recuperated from a recent and major operation that none of them went into further detail on.

After Kyo had ascertained that Mel approved of his new friends, they all banded together to get some food and hunkered down by the fire in a pack not far from where Sora and Riku were bickering. Mel motioned to Kyo as he walked past with his bowl and said, "You do know I can't tell you who to hang out with?" she said quietly.

Kyo gave her a pleading look. "You're still the boss of me, though!"

"That's not what you said last time-"

"Mel!" he whined. "I just wanted to know if you liked them!"

Mel looked over to where Joey was motioning impatiently at them, and smiled at her brother. "They seem a barrel of laughs." Kyo beamed, and then scowled when she said added, "If I hear _anything _about substance abuse from Ansem or Leon you'll be in _serious_ trouble."

"Gah!" Kyo stormed off without looking back.

"Well what d'ya know," Aqua said dreamily, smiling at Mel's puzzled look once she turned her attention away from Kyo. "Mel has a stern side."

"Kyo needs boundaries to know where he stands with people. Other wise he gets slightly more crazy than usual – and not in a good way." Mel reasoned calmly. "And…it's good he wants me involved in his life, and I'm glad he has friends closer to his own age. I was getting a little worried about him, but I think he'll be just fine."

They sat in companionable silence, watching everyone else as they settled down to eat and chat. Sora was dragged into Kyo's conversation, and he tugged Riku along with him; he ended up talking animatedly to Joey about gummi ships while Ashy talked about magic and spells to Sora, with Kyo interrupting every so often about the physics and science behind them using long words no one understood. She told him to shut the hell up, but she didn't seem to mind his childishness at all, which Aqua noted made Mel breathe a sigh of relief.

Ven and Terra were arguing with each other, and turning to Rhiannon as a referee. She had a long-suffering expression, but added her own penny's worth to the proceedings even though she looked as if she wished nothing more than to be left alone. Leo kept crawling along on his belly towards Lynn, who was sat on the ground with an empty bowl and tapping her hands against her thighs, head swaying to an unknown beat, occasionally hitting the sides of the bowl to add to her repertoire. Tiggy was curled up by the fire alongside Riku, blissfully asleep and not causing any trouble, so Leo was bold enough to get closer to the nobody. When he was finally within arms reach Lynn sat up and took notice, scratching him behind his ears and under his jaw, and he thumped his tail happily in response, humming deep in his chest.

Aqua was a bit surprised, but she didn't say anything. She was still concerned about what Lynn's presence could mean, and Mel was so far away in her own thoughts she decided it was best to not disturb her. Instead, Aqua leaned back and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax and remain unguarded, surrounded as she was by so many people she trusted and loved.

"S'cuse me,"

Aqua and Mel both jumped, and she noticed that it was more or less night now – they sky had grown dark and stars were starting to appear in their multitudes. Lynn was stood in front of them with something in her hand, shadowed against her leg in the flickering light from the campfire and the few lanterns that had been set out. Her expression was detached, neutral – very difficult to read into; it was more than a little unnerving at close quarters.

"May I ask what is most probably a personal question?" Lynn spoke directly to Mel after acknowledging Aqua with a courteous nod.

"Yes?" Mel said, wide eyed and startled, leaning towards Aqua for support.

"Can I have a look at your back?"

Aqua blinked. That was certainly not what she had been expecting. Mel was so stunned she complied without really stopping to think about it; she removed her green shirt and turned around, lifting the hem of her purple tank top to expose the alarming scars she bore. Aqua flinched involuntarily, and was relieved when Lynn took a step back and signalled Mel to sit down again.

"Right, sorry. I just had to check," Lynn raised the thing in her right hand and held it in both before she presented it to Mel once she had pulled her green shirt back on. "I was told by an elderly gentleman once that I had to give this box to someone very special. I'd know who by three signs that he told me. And I do believe, you're the one he was referring to."

Mel blinked, wide eyed before she looked up at Aqua for help, and then eventually back at Lynn. "What were they?"

Lynn hefted the box into the crook of her arm and counted off on her fingers, "Heart of dappled light, mythical beastie companion, and a scar of particular dimensions and proportions. You 'ent the _first_ person I met with a dappled heart, there was one other I met three years ago, but they did not happen to meet the rest of the criteria that was set out, and trust me people like you are few and far between. Now then, unless there is someone out there I over looked with the exact same scar and a pink fluffy unicorn or somethin' in tow who escaped my notice, I'm guessin' you're the person this old man was referring to. Please take this," she raised the box again into the light where it was most visible. "With my complements." After she had delivered the box into Mel's hands she bowed the same way Rhiannon had at the council meeting, both arms horizontally held across her body and parallel to each other back and front, dipping at the waist before she backed away a few steps and then turned on her heel, heading for her friend who was now arguing heatedly with Ven over something Aqua failed to catch.

Mel examined the box closely, running her fingers over the surface and edges thoughtfully before she handed it to Aqua. It was made of strong, sturdy wood, and it had a small and shallow carving of the Keyblade's crest above the lock. Under normal daylight it may have been a sandy colour, but in the light of the fire it was stained a warm red.

"I wonder what it is," Aqua said, testing the lock with her fingers. She remembered Mel had broken the lock on the chest they had found the book on dragons in, but when she asked Mel shook her head.

"That lock was old, and this one is much stronger – it'll take more force to break it apart. I don't want to damage this unless I really have to."

They puzzled over the box together until it was time to pack up. A few people had left to go on patrol, and Aqua felt it was about time to get everyone home for a good nights sleep; she had plans to drop by and see Phil about the problems they were having with the youths, and if they got caught up in another tournament they would have to be well rested.

"What's that?" Ven asked, looking over Mel's shoulder at the box as Aqua bullied him into order.

"I'm not sure," Mel said, looking closely at it.

"Eaves?" Rhiannon called, looking around frantically when she couldn't readily see Lynn anywhere.

"Over here, mate." Lynn was trying to back away from Leo, but he followed her and rubbed himself up against her with a happy coo. "Aw'right, Duster. I get it, but you've gotta go home now, so just – oi!" she tripped over someone's bag that had been lying on the ground as Leo leaned heavily against her. "_Ow_ my coccyx!"

"_There_ you are," Rhiannon hauled her to her feet with surprising strength and started berating her.

"I 'ent goin' anywhere!" Lynn snapped, rubbing the dirt from her legs. "Only that-" she was interrupted by Leo giving her a dragon's hug. "Oh for the love of…!"

"Leo," Aqua called, trying to get him to cooperate, but he paid her little mind.

"Leo, stop being a pain and come on." Mel said firmly once she noticed he was bothering Lynn.

Leo gave her a grudging look before licking Lynn's face in farewell and sauntering over Mel, looking quite unrepentant when she tapped his nose in reprimand.

"Feisty rascal," Lynn commented rather bluntly towards Leo, and then rolled her eyes as Rhiannon pulled on her arm. She tried to stand her ground, but the stocky woman was too strong for her and she nearly pitched head over heels. "Aw'right, I'm comin'! _Gees_,"

"Make sure of it,"

"Who are you, my mother?"

The spat continued as they walked away in the direction of Rhiannon's gummi ship. Yuffie grinned as she skipped past with Sora, intent on mischief, though she slowed down long enough to say to Aqua, "I really like her! You can hardly tell she's a nobody at times,"

That had Aqua deep in thought all the way home after they said goodbye to everyone and left. Mel went to bed early, taking the box with her, and Ven and Terra spent a while talking in the kitchen over hot drinks while Aqua sat wrapped up in her thoughts, ignoring the boys until she felt something ram into the back of her chair. Terra and Ven giggled as they wrestled, like the complete idiots that they were, so Aqua took it upon herself to leave them to their own devices and collapsed on the sofa in the common room, enjoying having the entire settee to herself.

By the time Terra came looking for her after Ven had gone to bed, Aqua was beginning to wonder how much of what Riku and Sora had claimed, and how relevant it was to Lynn. True, she didn't appear to have caused any harm, and had insisted vehemently despite Rhiannon's protests that her 'condition' was indeed a cause for concern. It may not have mattered so much if not for the keyblade – _that_ was the main worry. But she hadn't wielded it once, not even when Leo went berserk – she had chosen to draw her bow instead, when a keyblade would have been a more effective weapon. That had to count for something, right? What was Aqua going to do about it? Much as she hated to admit it, Lynn was in her territory, as a High Master, and it was Aqua's responsibility to deal with the fall out if anything happened.

Aqua tried not to jump when she felt a pair of warm hands caress the sides of her face, and opened her eyes to narrow them at Terra's smiling face above, leaning over the edge of the sofa.

"And…_you_ want?"

Terra shrugged and grinned lopsidedly at her, appearing from her view upside down. "Oh, nothing really." He said casually, eyes sparkling with humour. "Just this," she didn't resist when he kissed her tenderly, but she chose not to gratify him by lifting her hands to return his touch. "So…you planning on spending the night here, or-?" he grinned as she swatted at him.

"I'm going to bed," she announced, sitting up and stretching her arms and back. She felt quite stiff, and when she looked at the time she realised how long she had been lying there mulling things over in her mind. She rolled her eyes as she stretched her arms above her head again and felt hands running down her sides; she leaned over to one side and felt Terra follow her. "Could you not?" she asked, trying to sound annoyed and dignified, not needy and begging.

"Why?" he asked childishly, smirking at the blush in her cheek.

"Because I'm the High Master and I said so." She retorted. In truth, she would not have minded at all giving into his request, whatever it may be, but she had a duty as High Master that needed her attention. When she thought about being with Terra, it was a wonderful but nonetheless distracting feeling.

"So…" Terra said teasingly, kissing her throat. "_High Master_. Will it be my place or yours?"

"Terra," it was meant to be forceful and commanding, but it came out in a whimper.

"Or would you like me to leave you alone?" he asked seriously, looking into her eyes.

Oh how she _hated_ that, the fact that he was keen when she was resisting him and the _moment_ he decided he should drop it she wanted him all the more.

"Okay, you looked pretty pissed off now, so I'm just gonna-" he was getting up, preparing to leave, and yelped when she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back. "I didn't mean-!" he protested as she pulled him in for a kiss.

"You started it," she snarled, letting her fingers tangle in his hair.

Terra responded eagerly, but broke off soon laughing; making her huff and then feel mortified as he stroked her cheeks and said, "You make no sense."

"What?" Aqua sat up straighter, wide eyed despite her annoyance. What did he mean?

"You always seem to realise, at the last minute," he said, kissing her forehead. "How the both of us feel. You can be so dense! But…then sometimes you try to push me away when I want to be with you, and when I take the hint you change your mind. Why is that? I'm genuinely curious." He added, just holding her close without any teasing and suggestive caresses.

It made Aqua's heart melt. "Because," she said, able to think mostly straight now that he wasn't trying to molest her. "All we ever did as kids was fight for the upper hand. And we still do, only…you make me feel helpless sometimes, like I can't fight it. And, last night…" she bit her lip and hid her face in his shoulder, and she felt his hands soothingly on her back. "For a moment, I had the upper hand. And now I've lost it,"

"What do you mean?" Terra held her at arms length, looking deeply into her eyes searching for the answer – entirely _not_ helping.

Trying to muster herself, Aqua returned his unfathomable gaze and spoke as honestly as she could. "It's like when you…are with me, my senses just take leave of me, and I feel like I'd do anything you ask me to." She bit her lip, wondering what he would say to that.

Terra took a while to respond, and she held still as his gently pushed the hair away from her eyes and just held her gently. "Aqua…" he said slowly, and she cringed for a moment before he went on. "You know I'd move the moon and stars for you if it would make you happy. Just tell me and I'll stop teasing you," he frowned as a giggle bubbled up her throat, and looked wounded when she started laughing at him.

"S-sorry!" she doubled over and clutched her stomach. "But that's so…so…_cheesy_!"

"What?" he snapped defensively, his cheeks stained bright red.

"'I'd move the moon and stars for you'? Seriously?"

"Oh, and 'my senses take leave of me'! Like _that_ isn't a crap rip off from some stupid novel," he retorted with a scowl.

Aqua hugged him, still giggling, and felt him relax in her embrace. "I just felt annoyed that you could make me feel so powerless with your 'charms'." She said, kissing his cheek. Terra grunted, still annoyed himself, but he perked up quite quickly when Aqua let her lips find his. "So, I guess that just leaves one more question," she said, noting that whether by accident or design, she had him currently wrapped around her little finger.

"And what would that be, my Master?" he said, a little unevenly.

"My place?" she asked, indulging in a lingering kiss before whispering, "Or yours?"

Terra shivered and shook his head, swearing under his breath. "What do you mean, _you're_ the helpless one?" he accused her. "I couldn't deny you even if I wanted…"

Aqua blushed at this admission, and bit her lip. Why had it taken her so long to come around and notice just how much this man meant to her…? "I'm such an idiot."

"Then I guess that makes two of us," he smiled and kissed her once more briefly before pulling her to her feet. "Come on, I think we should go to bed."

She let him lead the way upstairs, and wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed when he kissed her cheek at her door and let go of her hand. She wanted space, but at the same time she wanted to be with him, too. There must have been a telling sign in her expression, because when Terra looked over his shoulder he came back to her, and took her hands in his.

"If I said I'd go with whatever you wanted tonight, if you wanted some space and time to yourself, or with me – whatever. What would you say?"

Aqua made her mind up and reached up to kiss him. "Your place. And…just cuddles, maybe?" she asked, hopefully. It wasn't that she minded the pace of things recently, but…she liked the idea of soft and innocent, instead of last night's hard and fast passion. It had been on and off her mind all day, thinking about Terra in that light. But as much as she felt no regrets whatsoever for her actions, she wanted to tone it down and slow up a bit.

When she woke up the following morning, she was delighted to find herself tangled up in Terra's arms, his face nestled in the crook of her neck, tucked up in his bed. She held him close and brushed her lips against his gently; Terra stirred but he merely engulfed her with his embrace and settled down again, keeping her pinned to the mattress.

"Five more minutes…" he grumbled, cuddling up against her and quickly falling asleep again.

XOXOX

Maleficent watched with clinically detached sentiments as the group organised itself; the cloaked man picked up several stones and stowed them in the pockets of his robe, and Pete bumbled around rather comically compared to their 'colleague', looking for the disc that had been made. If Tomasa wasn't feeling so miserable and been filled with longing to be shot of them all, he would have laughed at Pete. He could imagine the things Kyo would say about him if he was there…

"Now then," Maleficent said gently, looking at them all over her staff. "I trust you all know what to do?"

"You bet'cha!" Pete's enthusiasm was probably spawned purely from the desire to save his skin. Tomasa didn't understand _why_ she bothered with him – of all the comics and books he had read, and video games he played, as well as films and TV shows he had watched, Pete was one of the worst villains he had ever come across.

"Very well. Off with you," she dismissed them with a stilted wave of her hand.

Tomasa fell in behind Pete, who was following the robed man who he _still_ had no name for. Not that he really wanted to know anyway…

He wasn't happy at all, with what was planned, but he felt like he had no choice. He had stated quite bluntly to Maleficent when the plan started taking form, and he had been terrified by the reaction his refusal had provoked. Pinned to a wall by dark magicks, a long fingered hand wrapped around his throat, sickly coloured eyes boring into his own – Tomasa's courage and confidence had left him completely.

"If you want to ever see your cousins again alive, you _will_ do as I say." She had hissed in his ear before letting him go. He had landed painfully on his knees, and stayed put until he was sure she had left the room, and then he ran for the library to find the darkest, smallest corner he could and hide.

As Tomasa followed Pete into the dark corridor, leaving the man behind, he surreptitiously raised a hand to the necklace that was hidden beneath his shirt and the Black Coat. He, Mel and Kyo had each been given one each by their grandfather, and it was one of the few things that gave him comfort anymore. Kyo had a salmon, Mel a wolf, and he a hummingbird, which had always struck him as rather girly in comparison. If Mel were here she might have an explanation for that, but of course she wasn't…

"So!" Pete said, turning to Tomasa with a happy grin of anticipation, and he stealthily brushed at the front of his coat as if to remove some dust, covering up the action of reaching for his necklace. He had a horrible suspicion that they would take it from him if they figured out how much it meant to him. "You ready for this?"

"Whatever," Tomasa said arrogantly, disguising his fear under a bravado he did not feel was at all sincere, or believable, but Pete didn't seem to notice.

"Those Keyblade twerps're gonna be gone all day long, but we need to work quickly. We have a schedule to keep, ya know!"

"Yeah, I know." He said, pushing his way past and feeling a momentary sense of satisfaction at the filthy look he got in return.

"Hold on now, pipsqueak-!" Pete shook a hand at him.

"I thought Maleficent said we had a schedule to keep to? Then let's go."

Scowling, Pete stomped after him and pulled ahead so he was in the lead. Tomasa put a hand in his pocket lazily, and clutched at the piece of paper in there like his life depended on it. A wry smile twisted his lips – he supposed in a way it did, or at least Mel and Kyo's safety did.

With all the time he had spent trying to stay out of Maleficent's way and remain inconspicuous with regard to his change of heart, Tomasa had done a lot of reading up on various different magicks. He liked to think that he would soon be able to take Maleficent on himself and right all the wrongs he had done, but he knew already it was a childish dream that would get him nowhere in the long run. Still, knowing more about magic than she thought he did would definitely work to his advantage. He could still make life difficult for them, sabotage missions, or even eventually run away.

With all that in mind, Tomasa brought himself back to the present task at hand – leaving a sign for Mel of Kyo to find that they would be able to understand, but wouldn't arouse Pete's suspicions, or that of the robed man when he caught up with them later.

This was going to be difficult…

XOXOX


	20. Visit From The Night Ghast

**AN: I apologise for the MASSIVE delay in this update – I have been on medication for my medical condition for a while, and then had to go off it for a couple of weeks, and as a result my brain just died and I took forever in rebooting it xD anyways, good news! I am on the meds again, and I can happily present to you the 20****th**** chapter of this story, and so far the longest chapter I have written yet – I think that's worth celebrating, don't you? Free virtual chocolate chip cookies all round to my readers, reviewers, favouriters and followers :D **

**And thanks in a massive part to **HeartofFyrwinde **for their constant help and idea bouncing that led to the subsequent hatching and naming of various spell concepts and manifestations, as well as enemies ;) I said it before and I'll say it again – you, my friend, ROCK **

_**Visit From The Night Ghast**_

"Ven! Behave! Sora, Riku – don't wander off. Leo, get back here!" Aqua shouted over the noise of the crowd, despair her overriding emotion.

Sora and Riku had run off together laughing, Ven was messing around on one of the statues, and Leo had knocked both Rhiannon and Lynn off their feet with his welcome. Mel rushed with Aqua to help them up, and though Rhiannon looked rather affronted Lynn took it with good humour.

"Yes, hello again, trouble," she said, pushing his muzzle out of the way. "I haven't forgotten you just yet,"

"Sorry!" Mel fretted, rushing to help. "He gets a bit over excited,"

"Whoa, slow down!" Lynn made a show of brushing Rhiannon down and dodged lithely out of range when she retaliated. "No harm, no foul, no bruise."

"Ven!" Aqua shouted again when she glanced over her shoulder. She was going to chain him to the floor in a minute, if that's what it took to make him behave with some sense of decorum.

"Are you two gonna sign up for the tournament?" Kairi asked as the women all congregated together in a group while the boys ambled around like the lunatics they were. Aqua wondered if she should be worried that Terra was acting somewhat hyper, but he ran off with Ven and she decided that they _should_ be able to keep each other in check.

"You didn't mention a tournament," Lynn shot at Rhiannon.

The older woman folded her arms and gave her friend a steely look. "You weren't paying attention, pet."

"Whatever,"

"Hey!" Sora bounced into view, grinning. "Look who showed up!"

Donald and Goofy were here for the tournament, and were greeted warmly by the rest of them. Riku ambled over and spoke to Aqua discreetly, to tell her Mickey had sent them along to assess Lynn, although when she turned back to the conversation at hand she found Donald and Sora arguing heatedly with each other over the games rather than spying on the nobody.

When the facilities for signing up opened they all banded together again, and fights started breaking out at the announcement of the golden rule of this particular tournament.

"Pairs?" Sora cried indignantly, shaking the flyer. "Aaah!"

"What's the matter?" Terra asked, plucking the paper from his hands to have a look.

"I have to pick!" Sora looked put out.

"That's okay!" Riku said, flinging an arm around his shoulders and clapping him hard on the back. "You and me can go it together!"

"But!" Sora turned to him with wide eyes. "What about Donald and Goofy? What about Kairi?"

"Shot gun!" Kairi shouted, grabbing Ven and dragging him with her.

"Argh! Hey! What's the big idea?!" he struggled against her, but they all guessed Kairi would have her own way with this.

"Wouldn't want to split up the dream team, would we?" she teased them, grinning at the boys when they protested.

Sora and Riku beamed in response before bumping fists and whooping loudly. Mel was about to speak when Leo rushed her and got his teeth into her armour, pulling incessantly until she conceded to be his partner. He sat down behind her and hummed his approval at her choice, teeth bared in a wolfish grin. Donald grabbed Goofy for his own fighting partner, and Aqua should have guessed Terra would claim her with a bear hug and a wicked grin of his own.

"_Mine_,"

"Don't flatter yourself," she kneed him in the gut, but smiled and took his hand as they went to sign up.

"You up for it, Eaves?" Rhiannon asked as the line moved along.

Lynn shrugged grandly, pulling a face. "Not especially. If you're that desperate I'm sure you'll bully me into it somehow."

"Why not? It'll be fun. Get you back into practise,"

Lynn gave her a withering look that became rather pained as she turned her back and walked away. When Rhiannon turned back to see if she was coming, she said shortly, "I thought we'd been over this already."

"Ahh, come on, flower! What's the worst that could happen?" Rhiannon asked as she picked up a pen, not bothering to wait for Lynn.

"Don't. _Ever_. Say that again. Like, _ever_." Lynn was torn between annoyance and amusement.

"And why would that be?" Terra asked as Rhiannon signed them both down.

"Oi! I never said yes! That's illegal, forging my signature!"

"Tough breaks, pet."

"Bloody cheek! And in answer to your question," Lynn turned to him, eyebrows raised. "The last time she said that our friend broke his collar bone for the third time. I don't trust her when she says 'what's the worst that could happen?' because that's when the real crap goes down. And I have _never ever_ broken a bone in my entire life – so I don't intend to start now."

Terra raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "So? I've never broken anything either."

"Well if you'd seen the stunts this one has pulled," Rhiannon said, taking her firmly by the elbows and steering her off towards the door. "You would tink that's a very impressive feat indeed. Come along, Evie."

"I should've let Leon clap me in irons and throw me in the dungeon. This is abuse and torture!" Lynn complained loudly, though she made no move to escape.

Most of the combatants went into town after they signed up to prepare for the afternoon, to eat and drink and either relax or strenuously warm up. They kept close to the coliseum, practising against each other and warming up, discussing tactics in close huddles while carefully watching for eavesdroppers. Aqua listened to Rhiannon attempt to bully Lynn into drawing her keyblade, but she point blank refused and after the first ten minutes she threatened to draw her daggers on Rhiannon if she didn't shut up about it.

"How come you won't use your keyblade?" Sora asked naïvely, and didn't notice Riku's face palm in response, or Rhiannon's upset frown.

"Well, considering my current 'condition' I figured it was best in the interest of the worlds at large to play it safe and not use it." Lynn explained without missing a beat. She seemed quite calm and unfazed; though it was hard to tell what else if anything she was feeling at the moment.

Sora accepted that, and Rhiannon gave her a despairing look as he scampered off to conspire with Riku.

"Don't give me that look," Lynn snapped without looking at her. "I'm going to sort out my arrows." She hunkered down by the steps to the vestibule and emptied her quiver and a bag from her rucksack, and began rearranging them.

Aqua raised a hand tentatively and touched Rhiannon's arm. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, I suppose so." She watched Lynn, who had looked up as Terra walked past and they started talking, probably about her arrows since she started showing him and gesturing at the fletched ends and the sharp points, balanced in her hand perfectly. "I don't know whether I'm coming or going anymore…"

Aqua sighed, wishing she could say something helpful, but nothing sprang to mind.

"I just wish I understood," Rhiannon went on, closing her eyes and kneading her forehead.

"Understood what?" Aqua asked.

Kairi and Ven had joined Terra now, and Terra was holding an arrow as if he were about to throw it, testing the weight and balance. Ven picked up the bow and plucked the string, intrigued; Lynn good-naturedly let them nose through her belongings without complaint, and even showed Ven how to nock the arrow into place and hold it in the ready position.

"Why, just…_why_." Rhiannon said helplessly, waving a hand at Lynn as she demonstrated the correct way to fire an arrow into an empty corner, before handing it to Terra to try. "Part of me doesn't _want_ to believe it, but then how can I deny it when the evidence is right in front of me?"

"Mmm." Aqua frowned. "I don't know what to say to help…"

"Ah, it's all right, pet. What can you do?" she sighed and shook her head. "I'm just…surprised, and a bit upset. See, our Master was quite open with us, and a bit lax in the rule department, but he sat us down after the tree of us passed the Mark of Mastery and told us plainly and simply that I was most likely to fall to the Darkness, of the tree."

Aqua was surprised by that – the fact that Rhiannon was closer to the Darkness, and that her Master had told them all apparently so nonchalantly.

"So it was Evie and Kenny's job to keep me in line. Of course, he told me I was needed to keep the Light from blinding the other two. Kenny was the brightest of all of us, Evie tinks the world of him. I just…fail to understand, why this happened to _her_." Rhiannon looked for a moment as if she would burst into tears, but she quickly mastered herself. "I shoulda been there for her, but of course she chose to go hide out for four years, never minding my poor heart or nerves." She smiled wryly as Aqua took a small step back from her angry flare. "Ahh, yes. My one glaringly bright fault. My temper gets the better of me quite often. Evie is really all mouth and no bite – she doesn't get angry easily, and Kenny, well…he's a lot like Master Sol, beyond horizontal, he's so laid back about everyting. It takes a _lot_ to work him up to homicidal rage."

Aqua watched in silence as Rhiannon spoke; Mel had come over to see what the others were doing, and Lynn was helping her to hold the bow up, though she had a lot of difficulty.

"That's aw'right," Lynn was saying as Aqua tuned into their conversation when Rhiannon fell silent. "This thing was made to my measurements, and you're no where near as long in the arm. You'd need a much shorter bow,"

"Gees Mel, you really suck!" Ven teased.

"I'd wager she's a damn sight better at aiming than _you_ are," Lynn retorted. "If she had a smaller bow to fit her size she'd probably launch one right into your arse from a respectable distance."

"Not that archery should be used for such past times." Mel said gently, hefting the huge bow and drawing back the string as far as she could. Her arrow didn't make it very far, but she seemed to understand the technique behind it incredibly well already, and gave the others pointers when they had a go. Kairi had the same problem in that she didn't have long enough arms to pull the string back far enough, though she certainly held the bow more easily without assistance, if in a somewhat messy manner.

"Rhiannon," Aqua said, deciding to be completely honest, even if it meant possibly provoking her anger. "I'm sorry to have to ask this, but," she took a deep breath. "Do you think Lynn could pose as any threat? I ask only because in our past experience nobodies and the keyblade mixed together means bad news. I don't want to put anyone in harms way, especially since they are now in my care. I don't mean to be uncaring or thoughtless towards your feelings, but I have the safety of many to keep in mind."

Rhiannon's expression was somewhat defeated as she met Aqua's gaze. "That's fair enough, pet. I wouldn't take your title if they paid me." She glanced again at Lynn, showing Sora the correct stance to hold while he wielded the bow, Riku and Kairi ducking for cover with laughter. "No. I don't tink she is a threat, but I'm probably too biased in her favour. She won't summon her keyblade, won't have anyting to do with it, not matter what I say. She doesn't want to get herself involved, but I tink I've guilted her into staying for a while. Just so I know exactly where she is." She frowned and rubbed her temples, staring at the hard packed ground. "This must be how a parent feels for their child. I'm getting paranoid, for sure…"

"Hey, Aqua!" Ven shouted, making them both look up. "Come try this out!" he twanged at the bowstring.

"Watch it, that 'ent a toy." Lynn said passively, looking up from where she was crouched holding up an arrow for Mel's inspection.

"So!" Rhiannon said loudly and cheerfully, slapping Lynn hard on the back so she crashed into the ground on her knees with a curse. "Got a strategy figured out yet, pet?"

"Okay firstly – _ow_. And secondly – you know what actually? Just piss off. I 'ent talking to you,"

Sora suppressed a giggle, which drew attention to him, and Riku demanded to know what was so funny.

"You two must be really good friends,"

"She 'ent my friend!" Lynn protested. "You seen the abuse I put up with? Friend's don't _smack each other_ when they least expect it,"

"Huh? We do that all the time!" Ven said, turning round and punching Terra squarely in the gut. "Right Terra!"

"Ouch!" Terra turned on him with ire in his eyes and pounced.

Aqua let the fight run its course with a sigh, and smiled as Sora showed her the bow.

"This is so cool! I wish I had one,"

"I could show you how to make them. That," Lynn nodded at her weapon, "took me a long time to finish, but it was made with powerful magicks so it won't age or damage easily."

"Still the Mage, if ever there was one." Rhiannon said sagely.

Lynn grinned, and she suddenly lit up entirely from within. "All my mage cronies have been in touch, still. Jansen told me about the preserving charm for the wood in the bow, and the spell for the string to keep it from snapping."

"How'd you mange to stay in contact with that egit if you were avoiding people?" Rhiannon said sharply, apparently forgetting they were in public as she brought up what sounded like an ongoing argument.

Lynn gave her a dispassionate look, and said, "Never under estimate the Uhran postal system."

"Oh. Is that all, now?" she folded her arms and gave Lynn a withering look.

Lynn shrugged vaguely and looked down at her assortment of arrows.

"This is beautifully made," Mel murmured, gently laying one of the arrows back down. "You used magic, didn't you?"

"I like making arrows that can be used as projectiles for magic, so they need to be charmed so they don't explode on initial contact with a magic attack before I can launch it."

That piqued Aqua's interest; she was keen to learn whatever new magic and tactics she could. "How exactly does that work?"

Lynn spent a few minutes explaining how she made the arrows, and demonstrated a few magic attacks to prove her point; the arrows were imbued with a resonance that was compatible with the magic she usually used in combat. Fire and Lightning were favourites, and without the prepping stages in their manufacture the arrows would have caught on fire and burned away to charcoal, or the metal components conducted the electricity and shock Lynn before she could let the arrow fly. It was incredibly well thought out, and very efficient as the magic already in the shafts kept the spell cast upon it going, so it didn't drain Lynn of energy to consciously hold the spell in place. The only snag in this plan was that if a higher-level spell was cast, such as Firaga, there was no guarantee of control over the resulting blast, since the spell fed off the charm in the arrow's body. The simplest answer, beyond avoiding the stronger spells, was to keep track of which spells had been used and to counter unwanted fallout with the opposing element cast manually from Lynn's hand.

"That's really interesting," Aqua said, running her hands over the beautiful carvings of the bow. "Is this how you fight?"

"Well, when I _have_ to, yeah." Lynn shrugged, flicking her head to dispel a lock of hair from across her eyes. "I prefer long range to close quarter, but I can fight up close if I have to." She brushed a hand absently against the hilt of the hunting knife attached to her belt.

"C'mon," Rhiannon clapped her genially on the back as she walked away from the group. "Conference."

"Comin'," Lynn selected a few weaker or less well made arrows and shoved them back into her rucksack, and the rest ended up in her quiver before she joined her friend to talk about battle tactics.

Later, when the other combatants came back and lined up to await their turn, Aqua was once again hanging her head and massaging her temples as high spirits got the better of the boys; even Riku was more hyper than usual, and he and Sora stood by teasing Kairi about how they were going to wipe the floor with her and Ven, and the two of them just stared back coolly without deigning to respond.

Aqua over heard Rhiannon talking to Lynn about the competition. "Surely we've just got to worry about this lot," she nodded at the rabble of keyblade wielders over the heads of the other competitors, some of whom were younger than Sora.

"That's what worries me." Lynn cast an analytical eye over them all. "They're all pretty strong and beefy lookin'. It's hard to suss out who's the toughest competition."

"I tink Melody will be the least of our worries if we face her."

Lynn raised a quizzical eyebrow and leaned sideways dramatically to look at her. "How'd you figure _that_ one out?"

"Well, Jondalar may scare easily, but I certainly don't. And she looks so delicate and unwilling to hurt anyone it'll be a breeze knockin'em for sixes."

Lynn's expression became disparaging. "And you believe this load of crap – _why_?"

"Oh come on, pet. How hard can it really be between us to bring down a dragon for the purposes of a tournament? It's just a competitive game, flower! Not like we're trying to slay the poor beast."

"Yeah, but what makes you think Mels will go down as easily as you say? She 'ent a muscled girl I'll give ya that, but she's not exactly helpless. Besides, she has one glaring advantage."

"What?"

"Err, _massive dragon_?"

"Puh!" Rhiannon adopted a somewhat arrogant stance and tilted her head back haughtily. "You don't have faith in our abilities?"

"Not in mine I don't. Dragon!" she waved her arms at Rhiannon to try and emphasise her point.

"Puh-_lease_. Jondalar is one ting, but I-" she never got to say what else, because Leo chose that moment to pounce.

Months of living with pranksters like Terra and Ven had honed his sneaking skills to a fine edge, and he had plenty of victims to practise on, so Rhiannon didn't see him coming. He landed in front of her, lowered his head and roared loudly, startling everyone and eliciting a few screams from the crowd at the unexpected outburst.

Rhiannon shrieked in surprise and stumbled backwards, summoning her keyblade and holding it up against his onslaught. Leo eyed her very deliberately before he grabbed the weapon in his mouth and yanked it right out of her hands to throw it across the dusty ground before he advanced on her with a slow and menacing hiss, tensed to leap forward and all six fangs bared.

Mel appeared out of nowhere and slapped him squarely across the nose and said, "_No_." sharply.

Leo grunted his assent, glowering at Rhiannon before he stalked off, stiff shouldered.

"I am _so_ sorry," Mel began, looking very anxious, but she was cut off as Lynn fell to her knees howling with laughter. Mel jumped and spun around to look on with amazement as the nobody guffawed and clutched at her stomach, tears almost springing to her eyes.

"We are a Master of the Keyblade, not a hyaena." Rhiannon said stiltedly as she recovered some of her composure, and managed to look convincingly annoyed at Lynn.

"Y…your face!" she collapsed onto her side on the hard ground, shaking with mirth. "Should've seen it! You totally shat yourself!"

Snarling, Rhiannon stomped over and summoned her keyblade to hold menacingly over her chest, kicking Lynn onto her back.

"_That_," Lynn giggled, managing to calm herself so she could look up at her friend. "Was the _funniest_ thing I've seen in years! The great Rhiannon scared out of her pants!"

"When you're quite done being a buffoon," Rhiannon snarled.

"Ha!" Lynn hugged herself, still shaking with laughter. "God, Kenny's gonna hear about this! Your face…" she continued to titter as she pulled herself to her feet, and only laughed harder when Rhiannon gave her a hard shove so she landed on her face again. "Oh god, my ribs hurt…" she giggled as Rhiannon stormed off.

"Gosh," Sora blinked. "Was it really that funny?"

"Heehee!" she wiped a tear from her eyes. "Nothing fazes her. She is, in her own words, _unflappable_. _That_," she pointed in the direction Rhiannon had gone. "Was _hilarious_."

"Is it really right to make fun of her like that?" Riku asked as Lynn picked herself off the ground once again, still chortling as she dusted herself down.

"Well, we always lived by the golden rule that you shouldn't object to something being done to you that you would happily do to someone else. Rhi'd happily laugh till the cows came home if it were me, so why should I treat her any differently? And besides," her eyes flashed with something akin to humour, but it was a deep and searching look at the same time. "Wouldn't you find it properly funny if it had happened to Sora?"

Riku blinked and stared at her in amazement for her uncannily accurate assessment.

"Well," Sora said loudly into the awkward silence, facing his best friend. "_I'd_ find it funny if Leo did that to _you_!"

Riku glowered at him, and then laughed as Leo scuttled over and pounced on him with a squeal of delight, knocking Sora to the ground before rubbing his great muzzle against the boy's hair.

"Could we at least _try_ to act like professionals?" Aqua asked dully as Sora giggled and Riku pointed and laughed at them. Leo's tail smacked into the ground with elation, making it shake beneath their feet. They were also starting to attract ever more stares from the crowd.

"Aww, c'mon Aqua!" Ven whined, flinging his arms around her and she leaned as far back as she could, giving him a withering look. "Where's the fun in that?!"

"You're impossible…" she said in defeat, trying to prise Ven's arms off her, but he hugged her tight and refused to let go. "Ven!" they both jumped as Aqua nearly fell over – Terra had run up behind her and pulled them both into his embrace.

"A group hug? And you didn't invite _me_?"

"That's it!" Aqua was about to throw it all in, she'd had enough fooling around for one day, maybe even the next month at the rate they were going.

"Aww," Ven simpered, smiling snidely at her. "Is the High Master feeling grumpy?" he pelted through the crowd with Aqua hot on his heels, full of self-righteous indignation.

After she had dealt with him, leaving both with numerous bruises and friction burns, she stalked back to the main group, and everyone looked away with varying degrees of subtlety. Aqua tried to rein in her glower when she met Lynn's gaze, and ignore the prickle of distrust she felt towards that one flat yellow eye – she hadn't done anything yet to earn Aqua's mistrust, but still, that colour… Almost in exaggerated slowness, Lynn turned to Rhiannon who was stood beside her with head cocked to one side and eyebrow raised.

"Y'know what?"

"What, flower?"

"I always thought it was just us who were crazy and mental like that. Now I'm wondering whether it's a keyblade thing."

"Well, Dee-Dee and Alonzo could give us a run for our money, if Miguel wasn't such a stick in the mud."

Lynn shrugged and pointed to Sora and Riku, picking on Kairi good-naturedly. "I was actually referring to that lot as well, but whatever."

"Contestants, take your places!" one of the attendants called from the doors to the coliseum.

"That's our cue!" Ven whooped, running after the crowd, Kairi rushing to keep up.

"Woohoo! Let's go, Riku!" Sora chimed, practically skipping after them.

"C'mon pet," Rhiannon grabbed her in a vice like grip, making Lynn wince.

"Why can't I ever say no? Am I too soft, or are you just too hard hearted?"

"You just know instinctively who is the superior human."

"Hey, are there rules against, like killing your partner? Any loop holes I should be aware of?" she asked loudly, being dragged along in Rhiannon's wake.

Terra chuckled as he followed, and looked surprised when Aqua frowned at him. "What?"

"I don't see what's so funny." She huffed, still annoyed with Ven.

"Well, let me put it this way," Terra said fairly. "She _said_ she doesn't want to cause any harm, and so far she hasn't _done anything_ to cause harm, and do you think Mel would keep her mouth shut if she really thought Lynn was a threat? Besides, everyone else seems to like her."

Aqua paused in her forward march, brow creased with concern. "Yes, and Ven and Sora are known for being naïve."

"And Mel?" he countered, taking her hands in his.

Mel was anything but naïve – she liked to keep her own counsel, but she wasn't afraid to voice her concerns when they arose. So far, she hadn't said either way really how she felt, especially after Lynn had given her that box. If Mel had felt the woman was dangerous, she would have definitely said so by now…right? But still, she hadn't said anything definitive about whether she thought Lynn _wasn't_ a threat either.

"You know what your problem is Aqua?" Terra asked, raising a hand and smoothing the frown from her brow. "You think way too much."

"Huh!" she folded her arms before raising a hand of her own to poke him in the ribs. "And your problem is you don't stop to think at all!"

"I do to think!" he argued back, annoyed. "I just don't think as much as you do!"

"Well _that_ explains a lot," she smiled sweetly at his scowl.

"Are you coming or what!" Ven shouted at them from the doorway.

XOXOX

The championship match was scheduled for later that afternoon, to give the contestants the chance to recover, and the crowds to grow hungry for more. At least, that was what Phil claimed. Either way, Sora and Riku were already impatient, and no amount of persuasion could keep them still for more than a few moments. Ven grinned as he chased after Sora, taunting him about how he and Kairi had thrashed him quite badly in their match.

Naturally, Terra and Aqua had beaten everyone they had come up against; Leo and Mel lost narrowly, and it would have been intensely interesting if Rhiannon and Lynn had madder it further than they had. Rhiannon had twisted her ankle and fallen whilst battling it out with a heartless, and rather than go after it with her daggers or keyblade Lynn had stood over her friend, bow drawn in defence, and they had lost as a result. The way they fought together would have given Terra and Aqua some trouble, but as it turned out they didn't need to worry.

"Can't believe ya…" Rhiannon muttered, picking at the bandage support on her leg that Mel had helped Lynn to put on.

"Well as long as you neck stays at a natural angle to your shoulders, I guess you can't _really_ complain," Lynn said indifferently, slapping her friend's knee playfully.

Ven turned away from them, and away from Terra and Aqua who were fussing over Leo, and saw an opportunity to sneak up on Sora. As he got closer however, Sora's stance changed, and he jumped into the air with joy before he pelted off towards the gates. As he followed his gaze, Ven saw someone he hadn't seen for a very long time, and set off after Sora as fast as he could.

"Herc!"

"Sora! Ven?" the man's grin was almost as big as theirs as he rushed forward to meet them, pulling them both into a bone-breaking hug. "Guys! It's so good to see you! Wow, look at you Ven!"

"And look at you!" Ven bounced excitedly. When was the last time he had seen Hercules? Too long ago! He had really grown and filled out, and was immensely strong judging by the force of his grip.

After the initial greeting, they both led Hercules over to the others, where Terra and Aqua received their own hugs of welcome, as did Donald and Goofy, and then Sora introduced his two friends. Ven dragged Mel forward, who greeted him with a smile and a lot more confidence than she had when she had first come to this world with them. Hercules was gob smacked by Leo, but the dragon rolled onto his back and wiggled appealingly before consenting to have his head scratched. Aqua introduced the other two keyblade wielders, just as Phil came to see what all the commotion and shouting was about.

"Well, you sure took your time!" he said loudly, though he was exceptionally happy to see the man.

Hercules grinned, ruffling up Sora's hair as he greeted his old trainer. Ven took a step back to really take stock of the man; he was so much taller, more filled out, and he had that same gooshy light about him he had noticed in Aqua and Terra. His hair was a shade darker than Ven remembered, but he had the same eyes and smile.

"How's Meg?" Sora asked after a while, probably referring to a mutual friend of theirs. Sora had loads of friends wherever he went, it seemed.

"Great!" Hercules said. "She just wanted to stop off to do some shopping, and I guessed Phil would want to see me right away so I came on ahead. Pegasus is with her,"

"Awesome! I haven't seen either of you in a while," Sora enthused, then looked confused when Phil coughed loudly with a smirk.

"Spill it," Terra demanded with a knowing grin.

"I'm not telling," Phil snapped.

"Hey, Meg!" Sora sighted something beyond the gates and bounded forward to meet them, but was blocked by a white horse with large wings and a short blue mane, who licked his face eagerly and whinnied loudly.

Leo looked affronted that another mythical beast _dared_ to muscle in on his family, and Ven rubbed his neck in appeasement, though the dragon gave Sora a wounded and betrayed look when he came bouncing back.

"Meg! I wanna introduce you to my best friends! This is Riku, and this is Kairi,"

Meg was a slender woman of average height, with long dark hair tied in a ponytail, blue-violet eyes and wore a long deep pink dress. She was carrying a bundle of blankets in her arms, that Sora seemed to have over looked; Ven wondered what was in it as the woman held it very gently, and his interest was piqued when Mel slowly made her way over, wide eyed.

"May I see?" she asked softly, gesturing to the bundle.

Meg smiled and unwrapped a section of blanket to reveal what she was holding. Ven's eyes grew very wide as he looked down at her arms, and the little baby tucked into the folds of the blankets. He jumped when he heard Sora's exclamation of surprise.

"It's a baby!"

"No _duh_!"

Mel's eyes were shining as she edged forward, smiling widely. "She's so beautiful…"

"Congrats!" Terra clapped Hercules on the back with a grin.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sora demanded angrily, shaking his hands.

Hercules narrowed his eyes at Phil. "Well? Why didn't you?"

"I didn't think they needed to hear it from me!" Phil snapped in response. "And you sure took your time coming back! The old place is fallin' apart without my number one hero-!"

"What's her name?" Mel asked.

"Alexis. You want to hold her?" Meg asked.

"If you don't mind," Mel looked excited; she could have bounced for joy if she weren't about to hold a baby – that demanded being very sensible.

"Aww!" Aqua cooed, stroking the little girl's cheek as Mel gently rocked her body from side to side. "She's so sweet!"

Alexis woke up, and started waving her arms around, staring with just as much wide-eyed wonder at the faces around her as they were looking down upon her. Her fine thatch of hair was as dark as her mother's, but she had the same blue eyes of her father. She started burbling, and grabbed a lock of Mel's hair to pull hard, though she didn't seem to mind the abuse.

"She's got quite a grip," Mel commented, turning her head to allow the greatest range of pulling.

"Just like Wonder Boy," Meg said with a smile.

Hercules grinned shyly and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, she's quite a handful,"

"How come you didn't mention this before?" Ven asked Phil, who made a noncommittal answer before dragging his former student off to see to the tournament and setting up for the final match.

Leo was intensely interested in the baby – he had seen and played with plenty of young children in Radiant Garden, and various other worlds they had visited, but he hadn't had a close encounter with a baby. Alexis was so much smaller and decidedly delicate compared to the other people he knew; Mel told him sternly to be _very_ careful before she introduced them, after having secured Meg's consent.

"It must be a girl thing," Ven stated as Kairi and Aqua were joined by Rhiannon and Lynn to faun over Alexis.

"It's part of their genetic code," Riku said sagely, head bowed in deep thought, stroking an imaginary beard. "All girl's are programmed to go soppy over babies. That's how they make sure they get fed and clothed and everything."

"That's a…" Sora had to really stop and think about it. "Social releaser?"

"What's _that_?" Ven asked, mystified.

"It like this social mechanism that all baby animals have to make them look more appealing so their mothers won't abandon them and will look after them. Or something like that. Like…how their eyes look really big and their faces all round and cute looking – so people _want_ to look after them."

Ven smiled at Mel, who handed Alexis to Aqua, though she looked a bit disappointed at giving the baby up.

"Gawrsh, she sure does look a lot like Hercules, doesn't she?" Goofy asked, edging closer to the gaggle of women.

"Yeah, they have the same eyes!" Sora grinned. "And look, that's Herc's nose!"

"What's with that smile?" Riku asked, tapping Mel on the crown of her head.

She beamed up at him. "I _really_ like babies."

"Uh-oh," Terra smiled slyly at Ven, who's back was instantly put up. "Someone's getting broody."

"I'd be more worried about Aqua if I were you," he snapped back.

Ven was a bit surprised when Terra's whole face flushed a delicate shade of red, but he didn't pursue it further – Aqua looked so happy cuddling the little girl, he didn't want to upset or annoy her by stirring up another fight. She was just as reluctant as Mel to pass Alexis on, but the baby decided now was the time to start crying, and she howled loudly making them all jump and the boys retreated hastily.

Aqua panicked for a moment, worried she had set the baby off, but Mel waved a soothing hand over Alexis, and her incessant cries lessened slightly in volume. "She's just hungry."

"Here, let me take her," Meg said, holding out her arms, completely unmoved by her baby's shrieks. "Yes, its about time we were fed, isn't it?" she said conversationally to the seething ball of impatience. "You'd better go rescue Hercules from Phil. I'll catch up with you in a moment,"

"Do you need any help?" Mel offered as Pegasus trotted past, and saddlebag on his back, which he offered to Meg.

"Thanks, but we should be just fine."

"Babies are scary," Riku said, blank faced as they made their way through the vestibule.

"They only cry because that's the best way to get attention. It's more scary when they start talking." Mel said fairly.

"Really?" Ven wondered out loud.

"Oh yes. Once they start walking and talking – there's no going back."

Ven laughed, as did Sora and Aqua, but they were interrupted by Phil shouting, "Hey, we ain't got all day! Get your backsides over here!"

"Good luck!" Sora said, bouncing through the door, dragging Kairi with him.

"See ya," Riku grinned at Terra before following.

"Good luck, though I'm sure you don't need it," Lynn said as she walked past with a salute. She snorted at Rhiannon's expression and said, "It's a baby, Rhi. Not a nuclear bomb."

"Just as bad in its own way." She said, ruffled.

"Well, projectile vomiting is kinda like a missile system, I'll give you that much. But they 'ent _that_ scary!"

"Oh shut up…"

"Good luck!" Ven gave Aqua a big hug, and allowed her a few seconds to coo over him and stroke his hair before he made his grand escape – after Terra caught him in a headlock.

Mel was frowning as the rest of them set off, but it slid into a smooth and unreadable expression when she became aware of their collective gaze. She pressed Terra's hands with her own and, rather than wishing them luck or stating her beliefs in their ability to win, said: "Be careful out there."

Aqua and Terra left to enter the ring, but Mel hung behind to wait for Meg. Ven stayed back too, to keep her company, and the three of them made their way into the stands together, sidling over to where the others had saved them seats.

"What took you?" Donald asked loudly over the noise of the crowd.

"We were waiting for Meg and – Mel, what are you _doing_?"

Meg was sat with her body turned toward Mel, Alexis sat up on her lap and facing Mel; she held her by the wrists, the baby's back against Meg's body so she didn't fall over, and Mel was holding the little girl by the hands and smiling down at her, moving her hands to a simplistic and repetitive rhythm.

"Playing." She said simply, beaming at the baby who stuck the fingers of her right hand into her mouth, staring at the woman with the pretty golden hair like she was the only thing in existence.

"Heh." Ven smiled softly at the scene. "She really likes you,"

"Hmm? Oh, no! I've just got lots of shiny things on. Babies like shining things. Don't you?" she said to Alexis, who reached up to grab the braids that hung from her shoulder guard, the ones that ended in lovely long, soft feathers that she tried to stick in her mouth. "Oh – I don't think so, that's not very good for you," Mel said, giving Alexis her finger to try and chomp on instead. "Try this instead."

Alexis gazed up at the sound of her voice in rapt attention, and Ven noticed that she was indeed eyeing the shiny surfaces of Mel's armour, and the colourful beads and feathers that adorned them. They made a satisfying clinking noise when Alexis batted her hand at them.

"Mmm, I think blondie's right. She does like you," Meg said, tickling her daughter under the chin.

"Only because I'm new and exciting," Mel smiled, tickling her on the stomach. Alexis shrieked with delight and grabbed a stray lock of hair that she pulled on forcefully. "Yes, I'm blonde too, just like Ven." She said.

Alexis giggled, and then proceeded to sick up all down herself.

"Oh dear," Mel said, reaching for a handkerchief.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with it."

"That's what scares me most about babies," Ven admitted to Mel as they dealt with Alexis. Mel nodded, and her eyes became distant as she gazed onto the ring, where Terra and Aqua were emerging to face off against their opponents. "Something wrong?"

"Hmm? No, not really, just…" Mel frowned again, and then closed her eyes and leant forward on her knees. "I'm okay," she waved his concern away. "Just felt a bit sick for a moment."

"What's up?"

"You…know when you get that horrible niggling feeling?" she said slowly, eyes guarded.

"You think something's gonna go wrong?"

"I just think we need to keep a close watch." She said quietly.

"You a'right over there?" Lynn called, seeing Mel's posture.

"Fine, just a bit dizzy," she called back.

Lynn handed a flask of water to Riku, who handed on to Ven over Sora's head, and Mel took a sip which seemed to revive her a little.

"She put herbs in this," Mel stated, sniffing the rim of the flask. "It's like a very dilute potion,"

"Hey, there they go!" Ven said, standing up to cheer with Sora and Kairi as the match started.

Several things happened at once, and since he noticed Mel almost fainting beside him first he missed the first moments of trouble on the floor of the arena as he dropped down to help her. Mel's eyes were dazed as she looked up at him, and then she twisted sharply towards the ring, swaying wildly on the spot as she did so and almost unbalancing herself. Terra had run ahead of Aqua to intercept the first attack from their opponents – Killion and one of his crew – while she prepared a magic attack, but a rift in the centre of the battle area opened up and as Ven followed Mel's gaze he saw multitudes of heartless spilling out of the twisting, black portal. A couple were like the ones that had appeared at the Mark of Mastery, and Ven wasn't alone in jumping to his feet to help.

Leo jumped and sailed over the heads of the audience and landed on top of a rather large heartless with a snarl, bringing it to its knees. People were shrieking, possibly scared just as much by the dragon as by the monsters – Lynn stood up and launched several arrows onto the pitch below, and then ran off with Rhiannon to help the evacuation after her friend pointed out the crowd would most likely panic and get in their way. Ven was already vaulting over the stands and the people in them with Sora by the time they were starting to marshal themselves into order; he checked briefly to see what the others were doing, and saw Riku hot on their heels, with Mel and Kairi helping the fleeing crowd.

Killion and his friend were stood irresolute, staring with wide-eyed horror as the scene unfolded. He snapped to attention when Terra grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back, away from the darkness.

"Get outta here!"

They looked at each other once before they heeded Terra's command, and legged it after the crowd heading for the vestibule where Rhiannon was stood, ushering them through while Lynn picked off the heartless that strayed from the arena and after the fleeing people.

At first, the fighting wasn't so bad – the heartless were pretty weak, even the deer-like ones they had seen before. The problem seemed to be just the quantity at first, but when a new one Ven had never encountered before charged through their ranks, knocking Sora and Hercules over as it went, he had a horrible sinking feeling. It looked like a large, shaggy, muscular bull, with dull yellow and orange hair, and massive black horns that crackled with purple lightning as it summoned weak but long lasting magic spells that cast confusion in all around, including among the other heartless. Ven made a swipe at it, but had to retreat as it charged after him with worrying swiftness. When it gave up the chase he was glad for only a split second, because he saw where it was heading: straight for Meg who had stayed behind, anxious for her husband.

Ven made to run and intercept the charging bull, but it swerved and bellowed in pain as three arrows, one rapidly after the other, slid neatly into its thick hide, and suddenly found two brightly coloured keyblades thrust into its face. Mel stood resolute, shielding Meg and her baby from the onslaught, weapons held in the ready position and her jaw set so stubbornly that for a moment Ven thought it could have been Kyo. With the crowd now gone, only Meg and Phil were left, and he was desperately trying to convince her to go. With Mel, joined by Rhiannon, Meg stood in the doorway blocking the exit so the heartless couldn't follow. Ven turned to see Lynn raising her bow again and he ducked as she released a succession of arrows at a heartless with razor sharp antlers that had been creeping up on him.

The bull turned and lunged once again at Mel while Rhiannon rushed forward to tackle another one that had started after Lynn, who could only attack effectively from a long range. Ven's heart leapt into his throat when he saw the heartless' head jerk, and Mel side step out of the way with a spray of red; one of the horns had caught her cheek, and blood trickled down her face as she prepared a defensive spell. By the time Ven reached her, Leo had come rampaging in and grabbed the heartless so violently it was a wonder that he didn't rip its head off instantly. While Ven cast a curative spell the dragon dispatched the heartless all by himself, and scuttled over long enough to lick her face before he jumped into the air and plummeted onto the back of another heartless – a deer of supernatural proportions that was bearing down on Terra at great speed. It was driven into the ground with a roar and screamed with surprise before it faded away to darkness again.

"Okay?" Ven asked in a tight voice, afraid Mel had been more seriously injured.

"Fine, thanks." She said, shifting her stance and looking over his shoulder. She was more intent on protecting Meg and Alexis than her own safety, so Ven decided to help her. Besides, the exit needed to be guarded. Her wounded cheek was healed, even though it was still smeared with blood – there would be time to fix that later, though.

Just when everything seemed to be more or less under control, there was a sound like someone snapping their fingers and suddenly the arena was empty of heartless. The change was so sudden and complete that Sora and Riku, who had been running side by side cutting a swathe through the ranks, tripped over their feet when they found themselves no longer dodging moving obstacles; Terra and Aqua had been charging at the same heartless from opposite directions to catch it in a pincer formation, and with their target suddenly not there anymore they had to lurch awkwardly away to avoid catching each other with their blows. Donald's spell went careening out of control so Kairi had to dive out of the way, and he was hit in the back of the head by Goofy's shield as he stumbled over now nonexistent enemies.

In the middle of the area where the portal had been stood a figure in a long robe that under the bright sun was a very dark brown. Ven couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman under the heavy hood, but he knew instinctively that they were not on the same side; the Darkness clung thickly to them like a palpable, almost visible cloud. From the turn and jerk of the hood, Ven guessed they had tilted their head back slightly to look down their nose at them, cocked slightly to one side. Then they raised a hand, and above them a great ball of dark energy gathered, that exploded with a harsh light that was neither white, or grey, or…_anything_.

Ven still had to covered his eyes from the blast wave, and when he could look again it felt like time had slowed down. Everything was moving slowly, and the others were becoming strange blurs that gradually drained of colour. The only thing with substantial colour in the world was a figure walking towards him across the floor of the arena, with a horribly familiar gait. It split into two, the new one walking with an upright and arrogant bearing while the first hung behind, smirking horribly with eyes like two cold and lifeless lamps.

"Hello, _loser_." The arrogant figure said with a sneer, reaching up to remove the smooth and featureless visor that hid their face. Two more cold eyes, a flat yellow colour that offered no warmth. Hair blacker than the abyss framed a familiar face that Ven had now long since associated with a cheerful, happy disposition. The borrowed face was hateful, contorted by suppressed rage and anguish, directed outward at him.

Ven's legs gave out and he fell to his knees, the world swaying dangerously around him. "No…" he moaned. It couldn't be, it just _couldn't_…

"All these years to train up, and you can't even stand in my presence. What a wimp! I don't know why Xehanort ever bothered with you in the first place. You were always so weak, I'm disgusted I was ever a part of you."

"Why…?" Ven asked weakly, his whole being shaking with fear. It wasn't possible! He had defeated Vanitas – he had shattered his own heart to do it, and when Sora gave back the piece he had been keeping safe, the two had already rejoined properly. He shouldn't be here!

"You know what?" he asked casually, raising a hand and reaching out towards Ven. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson."

There was a dull roar in his ears, but he couldn't focus on the sound – none of it had any meaning to him anymore, nothing did.

"First," Vanitas walked right up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "I'm going to break Aqua's pretty little neck." He spoke right into Ven's ear. The sound was a little louder again this time, though still indistinct, and his voice drowned it out almost completely. "I'll bet she snaps almost as easily as you do."

"Don't!" he couldn't live with himself if anything happened to Aqua, or any of his friends for that matter.

"I think Terra needs a little more _pushing_, don't you? He was always the stronger one. You don't even come close. He should've been the one to forge the χ-blade, not a weak little wimp like _you_. Or," his mouth twisted in a parody of a smile. "How about your little girlfriend? Blondie sure seems nice, but she's way outta _your_ league – I bet she's nice to you just cause she pities you. I wonder how loud I can make her scream when I stab her through the heart…"

Ven wanted to be sick. He was terrified, but his anger swelled up inside him and he tried to stand, to lash out, to protect his loved ones, but his legs refused to obey. Vanitas threw his head back and laughed before proclaiming to the sky, "Try and stop me then! _If_ you can, which I seriously doubt." Ven forced himself to raise his head, to look up at the hateful face, and felt his stomach disappear to leave a void in its place. It was his own face, a reverse of the one he saw in the mirror; hair a golden halo of disarrayed locks, skin that was fair but able to tan appreciatively in the summer; but with yellow eyes, twisted sneer and repugnant expression that were just not his.

"Or maybe," Vanitas said softly, taking a fistful of Ven's hair and pulling sharply upward so his throat was exposed. "I could a little more 'fun' with her before I kill her, right? Who knows, she might enjoy it. I bet I could make her scream more than you ever could. Only I know you'd never have the guts to do it,"

"L…leave Mel alone…" Ven demanded, trying to fight the lethargy in his limbs. He'd tear Vanitas to pieces if he laid a finger on her – if he could force his body to move, that is.

"Aw, c'mon Ventus. We both know you _like_ her," he smiled maliciously. "Hey, maybe she'd be willing to have a threesome – who knows?"

Even in his weakened state, Ven managed to rally himself. "You're sick," he spat.

"Am I? Or am I just better than you? Taking life by the horns? All you ever did was sit around at home like a good boy – I had to practically drag you outside myself. That stupid old man was too scared to let you see the light of day because he didn't trust you. I'm surprised Eraqus managed to put up with you for so long, if I'm honest."

Ven clenched his fists and his jaw.

"Well, then again he _did_ try to kill you. Guess he decided you were just too annoying to keep around anymore, after all!"

Ven managed to stagger to his knees and aim a punch that sent Vanitas sprawling on the ground, but he sat up and laughed manically as Ven collapsed, panting with the effort of moving his body and suppressing all the horrible memories his words conjured.

"Oh please! Is that the best you can do? No wonder! Eraqus didn't teach you a thing. That must be why you're so useless. He never trusted you at all, so he never taught you anything or told you the truth. Figures,"

"Open your eyes!"

Ven blinked, and tried to clear his vision as he lifted his head. This time, the noise that was trying to make itself heard cut through his skull like a dagger and reality wavered for a moment. He jumped, and realised he could move easily, and that there was a pair of yellow eyes in front of him – but these were bright, warm, and somehow familiar though the face they were set in was not.

"Ven, please! Get up!"

The eyes and the face moved – the muzzle of the rust coloured wolf pressed against his forehead and he felt a release from the horror that had gripped him. Then the wolf was gone, and was replaced by a pair of deep green eyes and a worried expression, cheeks smeared with blood.

"Ven, you have to get up! Please, I'm begging you!" Mel pleaded, trying to heave him to his feet.

He pulled himself up, dazed, not really understanding what was going on anymore. Where had Vanitas gone? And more importantly – where the hell had he sprung from in the first place?

Mel was already running towards Riku, curled up on the hard ground on his side, hands clamped over his ears as if to drown something out. He was groaning, and kept saying things like, "Stop it!" and, "I never meant for that to happen!"

"Mel, what's going on?" Ven asked, stumbling as an apparition appeared in the stands before him; Vanitas smiled sycophantically and waved jauntily, raising his keyblade – Master Xehanort stood by his side and watched dispassionately while multitudes of unversed flickered in and out of existence as though the fabric of reality were bending.

"It's a Night Ghast! Help me!" she was trying to get Riku to sit up, the red wolf circling around her. He had never seen her so frantic – sure, he'd seen her when she had been caught off guard or surprised, but he'd never seen her so close to such hysteria. "Get them to sit up! They mustn't go to sleep! Ven – _help me_!"

Ven noticed the wolf was shimmering, and then with a jolt he realised it was made up from layers of light. With that realisation, whatever hold this presence had over him was shattered completely, and he lunged forward to grab Riku by the shoulders and pull him up.

"Wake up, Riku!" he shouted, giving the boy a shake. Riku opened his eyes startlingly blue eyes and cringed away from him.

"Go away-!"

"I said wake up!"

The wolf rubbed itself against them both before it ran after Mel. As Riku slowly came out of his trance, Ven went to find and help her; Sora was crawling on his hands and knees towards Kairi while the red wolf stood over them, and Mel was trying desperately to get Terra to sit up, but to no avail.

The robed figure was gone, and in their place was a spectre cloaked in many and ever varying shades of darkness. The form was indistinct, and kept remoulding and shifting, although the vague impression of two arms and a shrouded head were consistent features.

Ven started as Lynn walked doggedly out onto the pitch, slowly as if she was moving through something viscous, and drawing an arrow fletched with white feathers. She paused for a moment to summon the correct spell, and when she knocked the arrow into place it burst into white flames before she loosed it at the phantom watching over them. As it met its mark, the red wolf burst out of nowhere, followed swiftly by Leo, and they all descended upon the spectre, which screamed so high and shrill that anyone who had recovered at all fell again to the ground, pain throbbing in their skulls.

Tears stinging his eyes, Ven forced himself to get up, but he stopped to gape in amazement as an armour clad figure arrayed in black and red accentuated with white jumped from a glider into the arena and drew a keyblade that cut into the floating mass of darkness and finally ended the spell that held sway over them all. It shrieked one last time before it shrivelled up into a tiny point of concentrated darkness that blinked out of existence. Dazed, Ven trudged over to their saviour, laughing shakily.

"Boy am I ever glad to see you!"

A hand rose to lift the helmet away, and a familiar, warm smirk from teal coloured eyes surrounded by a mass of bright red hair answered him.

"What would you do without me?" Lea simpered. He gestured at the mess that had been made and said, "What the hell happened here anyway?"

"I have no idea." Ven frowned, staggering over to Terra's prone figure on the ground, Mel still trying to make him sit up.

"It's okay," she was saying, casting around in her pouches for something. "Terra, everything's going to be all right. It wasn't real,"

"What the heck _was_ it?" Ven asked, sinking to his knees beside his best friend. Terra had his face hidden behind his hands and refused to move when he was poked.

"It was a heartless." Mel said, on the brink of tears. She dashed them away impatiently as she continued searching. "It's called a Night Ghast. They force you to think of the most horrible things you ever experienced. If you stay in their trance long enough it'll kill you – they suck your energy away. You eventually just lose the will to live."

Ven grimaced. "…How do they _do_ that?"

"I have no idea. It just makes it all the more horrible. Oh, _where_ is it?" she was scrabbling around, trying to find something. "I don't believe this…"

"I've got the next best thing," Lynn said, hunkering down beside her with her rucksack. "Here, take some."

Ven raised an eyebrow as she broke a large bar of milk chocolate into pieces and handed them out. "Seriously?"

"Those things," Lynn said, somewhat dispassionately as she slapped another bar of chocolate over her knee to break it in its packaging before she ripped it open. "Are the physical manifestation of despair. They conjure up a few other nasty and negative emotions like anger and hate and whatnot, but the principle's the same. Chocolate," she shoved a large piece into his hands. "Is a chemical antidepressant. Granted, it works better for women, but men benefit from it as well. Eat up,"

"I had a crystal," Mel began, gulping, but Lynn put a hand over her mouth to shut her up.

"Just eat it. Don't worry about it now," she turned and tilted her head to look up at Lea hovering over them. "Sup, Red?"

"Happy to see me?" he smirked, twirling his keyblade rather flamboyantly and ignoring the look Ven gave him.

"Yeah! You can hold this for me," Lynn threw her rucksack at him. "And give everyone some of this," she added, passing the crumpled packet of chocolate. "Mels, come on, get off the ground. You," she nodded at Ven, giving him the slightly lighter packet. "Go pass it around. Rhi! Oi! Get your arse in gear and get over here!"

Rhiannon was stumbling over to them as they started to filter the chocolate around to everyone, and she fell into Lynn's arms muttering something indistinct.

"Yeah, yeah. Sweet Zombie Jesus and all that. C'mon, I 'ent doing everythin' myself."

"_How_ can you be so blasé about this, pet?" she asked weakly.

"Well," Lynn stroked her chin thoughtfully. There was something like a playful glint in her eyes, something akin to real and strong emotion. "Let's just say there are slight advantages to being a partially existing entity."

Rhiannon looked at first angry, and then as if she were about to burst into tears. Ignoring everyone around them, she made to strike Lynn, but she missed even without her target trying to move out of the way.

"I told you not talk about it so lightly." She hissed, and Ven got the impression this was a more private conversation he shouldn't be privy to.

"But it's the truth." Lynn shrugged. "You're just cranky because of the Ghast. Here, have a chocolate on me,"

"So _that's_ a Night Ghast? Christ, I never thought I'd see one."

"You hoped," Lynn corrected her as Terra slowly let Mel drag him to his knees, shaking. "Welcome back to the land of the living, glad you could make it mate. Chocolate?"

Terra just stared at her uncomprehendingly, so Mel took the chocolate on his behalf and made him sit down, still talking in a low and soothing voice.

"You still here? Hop to it, otherwise it'll melt,"

Ven jumped at the command, but Lynn was obviously thinking in terms of logistics, not about dominating the situation, so he complied, taking another mouthful for himself to steady his rocked nerves. Then it suddenly hit him as he looked up to see Lea strolling across the rubble-strewn arena and heave Aqua to her feet; Lea could summon his armour, and apparently a glider now as well. Just in the nick of time too, he mused to himself.

XOXOX

"Fascinating," Ansem said to himself, lost in thought as he pondered over what had happened.

Mel was just glad it was over – Night Ghasts were thankfully extremely rare, and the chances of coming across one were very slim indeed. Apart from the obvious side effects they brought with them, what worried her most was the fact that it had seemingly appeared at the beckoning of the man who may or may not have summoned the other heartless, and that this one was strong enough to incapacitate around a dozen people all at the same time. That was… It almost didn't bear thinking about. But those avenues of thought needed to be addressed before long.

They went back to Radiant Garden to regroup and recover, after making sure that everyone back at the Coliseum could handle everything by themselves. Once they arrived, they found the sunniest spot outside the castle that they could and sat down to rest and recover fully.

Terra and Riku seemed to have been the most deeply effected, and Mel was relieved when she managed to get Terra to start talking to her. He was shaken up, but it didn't take much to convince him it hadn't been at all real. Given past experiences, she was certain she knew what was bothering him, and she did the best she could to help. Having everyone crowded around together in a bundle helped tremendously; they each knew something of what the others were suffering from, and so treated each other with an air of delicacy and thoughtfulness. Riku came round after a while of just sitting and listening to Sora rabbit on about school – when he mentioned about the homework piled up at home waiting for them that he was considering just setting on fire Riku burst out laughing and took a while to recover his breath, but he was suddenly his usual self again.

"So…these heartless," Ansem went on thoughtfully while Leo rubbed himself against his side with a plaintive whine, begging for attention. "Do you know how they come to be?"

"There's a story about that," Lynn said, her tone somewhat deadpan. She was thinking very hard; Mel could feel the tug and pull in her energy, though it was very difficult to read exactly right. She had thought at first that nobodies had an energy that was severely warped, but when Mel focused properly for long enough, she started to realise that it wasn't warped at all – it was following a different pattern that compensated for the lack of energy concentrated in the heart and sacral chakras. "I think it was something like a person in the greatest despair attracts the heartless to them, and-"

"That's the Nightmare story, isn't it pet?" Rhiannon interrupted.

"Shut up, it's my story and I'll tell it _my_ way," Lynn snapped back. "So like," she went back to talking to Ansem, eyes raised to the heavens and listing towards her right, her left eye closed so only her yellow eye was visible, and struggling to conjure the memory up. She started tapping her hands against her thighs and knees, sometimes with her fingers, sometimes the knuckles, and sometimes alternating between the heel of her palm and the pad beneath the fingers, and the joint below her thumb. The drumming pattern created what would have been a wealth of acoustics if she had been hammering away at a more sonorous object.

"It was _something_ like…" Lynn paused and hit the heel of her hand against her knee eight times before continuing. "A person who's hit the lowest point ever and is happened upon by a heartless gets their heart swallowed by the Darkness, and that allegedly gives rise to the Night Ghast that floats around forever more making people feel the way they did. A nobody can't be formed because the body gets eaten away into pure nothingness, or something like that." She frowned, trying out a new pattern that concentrated mostly on her left hand. "I can't remember…"

"Try." Rhiannon said, giving her a wry smile. "You were always the one who remembered the useless crap no one else bothered to learn but was always ultimately significant."

"I have interests in arcane lore. What's you're excuse you stupid bint?" Lynn said casually, switching to her right hand again and setting out a faster rhythm.

"What are you doing?" Riku said eventually, watching her with guarded irritation.

"Nervous twitch?" Lea asked, walking up to where Lynn was sat and leaning over her. "No need to be so edgy around us, got it memorised?"

"Yeah, I'll give you a new rhythm, how's that?" she asked, face expressionless and eyes half closed as she rapped out yet another rhythm.

Lea cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry hot stuff, but you lost me."

"I'll try to speak plainly then. _This_," she imitated a drum roll across her thighs. "Is how I recall my memories. I encode information best acoustically, so I use drum patterns to help me remember important stuff that's worth knowing. And since you're so nice and all I think you deserve your own roll," she paused dramatically before setting another pattern out more vigorously; before the final beats could be hit she swung her arms in a circular movement away from her legs and came to rest with her thumbs jabbing off towards the left. "Piss off, you're blocking my sun."

"Mmm, kinda feisty for a nobody, ain't ya?" he said teasingly, complying with her wishes, albeit slowly.

"What can I say? You instil in me feels that would be psychotic if I could actually feel them. Move it."

Rhiannon gave her a hard look, which Lynn didn't turn towards to meet.

"And you can stop scowling. Lemme try again," she went on tapping and beating out different rhythms.

After a while, when the sun was starting settle and the sky was stained orange and red, Mel decided to go and sit beside Lynn. Sora had by that point sufficiently recovered, and he had dragged Riku along with him to go play with Leo. Ven followed with a long-suffering smile on his face, still too wrapped up in his own thoughts to join in. Aqua and Terra were perched on a low wall together, languidly devouring the ice creams Sora had prescribed as a cure for what he called 'down in the dumps syndrome'. Kairi was talking to Kyo who had joined them earlier, and they were discussing some of the physics experiments Kyo had been fiddling around with. It was an area they were covering in school at the moment, and Kairi wanted to know more – if nothing else than the amaze her teacher and prove she wasn't going to fail because she was always skipping classes seemingly at random. Rhiannon was carefully watching Leo and talking with Ansem in low voices, and the two of them kept shooting Lynn furtive looks, which she was most probably ignoring as she went through her drum rolls.

After about five minutes of sitting side by side the rhythm shifted and Lynn said, "Penny for your thoughts, Dragon Girl?"

Mel smiled at the nickname. Whatever else could be said about her, Lynn had a sense of humour. "I was wondering."

"There's a song about that." She commented. Her new rhythm was more relaxed, and the tension in her aura eased as she stopped searching for answers in her memories and came back to the present.

"Quite possibly."

"It's about lemon trees."

"I think I know that one,"

"Really? Cool, no one ever does." Her brief smile was genuinely happy, but then her face relaxed into a monotone expression as she continued drumming away.

"I wanted to thank you for giving me that box," Mel said. "And…I was hoping I could talk to you about something."

"Fire away. Not like I have to run off anywhere today," Lynn wasn't rude or abrasive – she just stated things, the same way Rhiannon did. It may have been a trait she had learnt off her older friend, since they had trained together for years. Or it may have been a result from the lack of feelings. Though Mel was seriously questioning her knowledge on the subject in light of recent events. "Cat got your tongue or what?"

Mel blinked, realising she had been drifting off. "I wanted to ask you a few things."

"If you're trying to be not insulting, don't worry. Call it like you see it – I'm a nobody, big whoop. No sense in denying the truth. 'Ent got much left but my pride, and you won't tear that down so easily. Just say what's on your mind. I'm, guessin' it's been there for a while."

Mel smiled up at her sincerely, but Lynn kept her drumming up and stared out at the sunset instead. "You're quite good at reading people." She stated.

"One of my many 'gifts', let's say. That and my memory – I can pretty much remember anything once I give it a drumming pattern and memorise it."

Mel thought hard about how to phrase what she was thinking, but she just couldn't find the right words.

"So, what're you so afraid of, then?" Lynn said, turning to look at her without breaking the pattern. Mel jumped, and she grinned at her. "Yeah, you 'ent the only one who can read energy."

"I never thought that I was." Mel said evenly, still startled.

"Guess I've something to be thankful for, I didn't get a face full of it from that Ghast. But I can tell you did, and you summoned that Eidolon. You're pretty level headed."

"I like to think I am."

"You know you are, even if you question it from time to time. That's good, though."

"Can't have a Shaman with a big ego." Mel said, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Hah!" Lynn snorted. "So go on, what's eatin' you?"

Mel frowned, hoping not the insult her. "I was…I'm not afraid of the Darkness."

"Good."

"But…I was afraid of the consequences of giving in to it. I always thought it would be far worse to leave a…a nobody behind that didn't feel and could wield a keyblade. I was afraid of the damage that could be done to the worlds, so that was my reason for staying away from the Darkness and keeping things balanced in my heart. But," she looked the woman directly in her patchwork eyes. " Then I see you."

Lynn just gave her a steady look, partially calculating as if she were working out how to respond diplomatically.

"And I feel like my fears up to this point have been wholly unfounded."

"Don't get me wrong," Lynn stopped her incessant drumming and raised her left leg onto the wall they were sitting on, tucking it under herself. "I'd be the first to advocate staying clear of this fate as far as you can. But, you don't have to let a bad situation ruin your life. I'm pretty much a loudmouth brat, as Rhi will be happy to tell you, but I have a real sense of right and wrong. That moral compass was passed onto me in this existence, and that's why I chose to drop the keyblade. I don't think it's right for me to wield it so long as I have no heart." She spoke evenly, calmly even. "But I think you're right to be scared. I wouldn't wish this fate on anyone. And since everything I was ever told about nobodies seems to be complete crap, it makes it all the more confusing to me."

"I would have asked Sora and Riku before now, but it just never occurred to me that was a misconception." Mel admitted. "I've been watching your energy – I thought it was warped at first, but I've realised it's just following a different pattern."

Lynn raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression it _was_ warped."

Mel traced a line around her body, following the flow of the energy to show her. "It's diverting a lot of lines back to the heart chakra, and a few to the sacral. The seats of compassion and emotion. And…" she didn't want to continue that thought, but Lynn urged her to. "You have had ample opportunity to do something underhanded or detrimental to us, or just not care what happens to us at all – and you've done what anyone else with a heart would have done."

"I don't get that. Regrowing a heart." She raised a hand to where her heart should be. "But I guess it makes a sort of sense. I was talking to Ansem about it the other day, without Rhi around of course. She's way touchier about it than I am. Anyway, so he said to me that because of the situation of being a nobody, when the first emotions _do_ start to come back to you they're all negative – angry, resentful, frustrated, depressed, _whatever_. I met a band of others on that turning point and they all sort of ended up attacking each other because they were going mental with emotions they didn't realise they were feeling. In hindsight, it makes _complete _sense, but at the time I would've been rather terrified by what I was seeing if I had been able to. That was really the point I thought," she pushed her hands forward as if shooing something away. "Keyblade plus this equals _bad_."

Mel thought about what to say, but nothing helpful sprung to mind. She smiled apologetically at Lynn's quizzical eyebrow and said, "I wish I had something helpful to say, but-"

"Let me worry about it. It's my problem anyways," she said, though Mel reckoned there was a smile hidden in her forcibly deadpan expression. "You don't need to say anything."

"Yoohoo!"

Lynn grimaced and covered her face with her hands. "Oh _god_…"

Rhiannon walked up and folded her arms behind her back, bending at the waist to lean down to their level and gave Lynn and piercing look.

"_What_?" she snapped angrily.

"Evie might I borrow ya for a sec?"

"No, piss off I'm in the middle of a conversation. And I thought we'd discussed this!" she added with a hiss

"Yes. We have." Rhiannon was ignoring Mel, and she tried to get up and leave to give them some privacy, but Lynn grabbed her wrist and yanked downwards. "Let it go, pet."

"Err, s'cuse me! This is a _she_," Lynn raised Mel's hand and waved it for emphasis. "And I thought I asked you to respect my life style choices and consequent name changes. Piss off!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Ansem wants to talk to ya, c'mon."

"Hello? Am I seriously a ghost or something? Hey! _Oi_! Seriously, you are so asking for it!" Lynn complained loudly as Rhiannon dragged her across the courtyard, tugging Mel along behind because she didn't have the heart to pull her hand away from Lynn's. "I'm honestly going to murder you in your bed," she was saying as they pulled up alongside Ansem and Kyo with his friend Joey. "And _then_ you'll be sorry,"

"Oh if I had a pound for every time I heard _that_,"

"Well, they don't do pound sterling round here, but I'm happy to comply!" she aimed a punch at Rhiannon, who caught it between her hands and squeezed, a gleam in her eyes akin to the one in Terra's as he and Ven often squared off.

"I don't tink so, flower."

"I, I _do_ tink so. Very, _very_ much!"

Ansem cleared his throat while Kyo and Joey tittered, and Mel stood by placidly waiting for the spat to run its course. The two of them would never _really_ hurt each other, but a concentration of sun energy in both led to a slightly more aggressive attitude and inevitable clash between them – what you expected from close friends.

"One sec, I'm on a roll," Lynn said, grinning wickedly. "Y'know what?"

"No." Rhiannon said shortly. "Evie, tell us about that degree of yours."

Lynn blinked, completely wrong footed and distracted from her trail of thoughts. "You want to talk about my _what_?"

"Rhiannon tells me you have a science degree with field experience, but that she doesn't know the particulars." Ansem explained. "I was wondering if you could enlighten us."

"I didn't know Keyblade Warriors went to Uni." Kyo said, wide eyed, staring at Mel. "Why don't you? That would be cool!"

Mel smiled indulgently at his enthusiasm. "I'm not academic like you. I like my tuition the way it is at the moment."

"Well, the thing is," Lynn explained as the two youngsters watched her expectantly. "My mate Kenny and I were bored, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, so we enlisted to go to university in his home world. So I did a course in the only area of science I _like_ and one that focused heavily on field technique and equipment management,"

"And the _title_?" Rhiannon asked in a bored tone.

"Conservation and Ecology. Why am I over here?" she shot back with a glower.

"You did that ting with the lions, didn't you pet?"

"Get to the point!" Lynn whined, spreading her hands in surrender. "And it was leopards, thank you very much."

Rhiannon waved a hand vigorously at her and pulled a face before saying to Ansem, "Lot's of tracking and traps, and-"

"Ohhhh!" Lynn's eyes grew wide with comprehension. "Y'mean camera traps! Yeah, we did a shed load of that stuff. Rhi, what the hell are you even driving at? How's conservation biology helping this situation?"

Rhiannon turned to Ansem, who said calmly, "There have been recent sightings in certain areas outside the town, of creatures we cannot quite name. I do not know much about them, and I do not know the best way in which to gather the necessary data. I was talking to Rhiannon about it and she suggested you would have an answer."

Lynn stared up at the castle thoughtfully, balanced on one foot and tapping the fingers of her right hand against her cheek, left arm tucked up close to her body. She turned and leant towards Ansem with a faraway look in her eyes while Kyo waited eagerly for what she had to say. "What sort of terrain we talking about here, and how many square miles to cover? Camera's need to be suited to the environment and there need to be enough of them to catch the beasties by chance as they move about. Bait often helps but you don't want the animals habituated, specially when you don't know what you're going to find and so close to an urban area."

"Mel!"

Kyo looked annoyed that Ven wanted her attention, but she squeezed his hand and promised to come and see him before she had to leave, which mollified him enough to let her go, though he was scowling at Ven as they walked towards where Aqua was sat.

"I was meaning to ask you," she said as they settled in together in a huddle against the descending gloom. "That wolf in the coliseum. You conjured it, right?"

"Yes." Mel said, reaching up to rub Leo's ears as he collapsed beside her and hummed loudly, more for attracting loving attention than anything else. "It's something my grandfather taught me."

"What _was_ it?" Ven asked, wide eyed.

"It's a sort of spell – a charm, really. It's something that counters the Night Ghast and relies on the caster's ability to project a positive force, like happy memories. The spell is called the Eidolon's Call, and it forms a sort of shield between you and the Ghast. It always takes the form of a particular power animal of the person casting it, and it's not always the main one associated with that person. Mine just happens to be a wolf – she always appears to me like that, even in vision quests. Sometimes the Eidolon is an animal you wouldn't expect, but it's always another facet of the person's character, no matter how obscure."

Sora and the others had come over part way through to listen, and they started exclaiming and wondering out loud about the possibilities of the spell. Aqua took Mel aside away from the noise and said, "I think you'd better teach us how to cast that spell." Her eyes were troubled, and Mel nodded. "That was…quite horrible."

"I know. I've never had to use it in a battle situation – the only other time I ever saw a Night Ghast someone else took care of it before I could. I never thought I'd come across one again; they're so rare…at least I thought they were."

Aqua smiled and shook her head. "It doesn't matter – we're safe here now, and that's what does matter. And next time we'll be prepared."

"I hope there isn't a next time." Mel said, wishing it were so, even though wishing alone had never really helped in the past.

"Well," Donald announced loudly, drawing attention away from Leo as he made a fool of himself lounging on his back in a bid for consideration. "We'd better get going."

"Okay," Sora said cheerfully, and Mel marvelled at his capacity for such positivity. The energy didn't seem to come from anywhere, from some other source to draw upon; it was just _there_ already. She was amazed that after knowing him for around half a year she still felt surprised by it. "See you soon, okay?"

"Gawrsh, aren't you tired Sora?" Goofy asked as he bounced over to them to say goodbye.

"Nope!" he grinned, giving Goofy a hug. "Safe flying!"

"You be careful now too, ya hear?"

"Christ that boy doesn't give up, does up?" Rhiannon asked, coming over to join in.

"That's because he's Sora." Mel said simply. It didn't require further elaboration.

"Evie?" Rhiannon said over her shoulder as Goofy tried to get her attention.

"Stop butting into my conversations!" Lynn snapped. Then she turned to see Goofy standing close by and watching her. "_Can_ I help?"

"Just wanted ta thank you, and let you know that my report on you is nothin' but good words!"

"Aww, cheers mate." She grinned, and for a moment despite the difference in hair style and eye colour, she looked a lot like Sora, and even a little flare of happy energy bubbled through her aura. "Watch yourselves on the way, yeah?"

"Wait a minute…" Rhiannon frowned as Donald and Goofy set off amid waves of farewell. "They were…" her face darkened with anger and she flexed her arms. "…_spying_ on her?"

"And can you _really_ blame them?" Lynn asked, yawning widely – completely unconcerned. "It's not like I'm not- where are you going?"

"They've got no right to do that!" Rhiannon snarled, stomping after them and full of self-righteous ire.

"Whoa, Rhi, it 'ent that big a deal. Rhi!" Lynn had to leap forward and grab Rhiannon around the waist, but she just wasn't physically strong enough to subdue the powerful, stocky woman. "Just drop it!"

"No one insults you like that and gets away with it!"

"It 'ent an insult, and you insult me way worse than that all the time you stupid bint!" she looked up imploringly at Terra, who was closest. "Muscles – _help me_!"

"Err…_why_?" he asked, on the point of being too tired to care.

"She's set on kill mode! I can't hold her back by myself!"

Terra sighed and went half heartedly to help restrain Rhiannon while she spent her anger, mostly shouting at Lynn and trying to get round Terra's guard. When she finally gave up and glowered at the two of them, Aqua clapped her hands and said loudly, "Home time, I think." She arranged a time for them all to come and practise the charm, and then bullied Leo, Ven and Terra into order.

Mel had just jumped into the saddle when a rolling wave of nausea hit her and she had to take a few moments to recover from it. The sensation left as soon as it came, but she had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She jumped when she felt a hand on her knee, and looked down to find Aqua gazing up at her with concern.

"Are you all right?"

"Huh? Yeah…I just felt a bit sick for a moment. Ice cream isn't that filling," she smiled weakly. She just wanted to fall into bed and sleep now – it had been a long day.

"Man, I'm starving!" Ven complained stridently.

"Hallo, I'm Rhiannon. Pleased to meet'chuh." She said with a wry smile that earned condescending looks from Terra and Ven.

"Wow, I didn't realise in four years you'd become such a douche bag, Rhi." Lynn said loudly with a grin.

"You'll live approximately one hour to regret that."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before. Okay, sod off already if you're going home tonight. Just looking at you guys makes me feel dead."

"You're a nobody," Lea said, appearing over Lynn's shoulder with a smirk. "That's how you should feel all the time."

"Oh God, what is this?" Lynn feigned a horrified expression, clutching at her collarbone with wide eyes staring straight ahead. Sora and Riku jumped with concern, Ven looked confused, but Mel knew what she was really up to, and had to stifle a smile. "This feeling! It's all coming back to me now!" she bowed low for a moment before she jumped a step forward and flung her hands high into the sky. "I remember this! It's called _not giving a shit_." She turned to look Lea with a bright smile before saying, "So jog on, mate."

Mel tried to ignore the exchange in energy going on between them – it wasn't any of her business as they settled in to have an apparently on going row.

"Home," Terra said, walking past with a sigh. "I'm hungry…"

"Bet I'm hungrier," Ven slipped in.

"Oh shut up…"

"The pair of you," Aqua said, sighing herself.

Leo grumbled and head butted Terra in the back, grunting his annoyance before barking Terra's name loudly.

"I _know_!" he snapped back, glowering back at the dragon's honey coloured eyes.

Mel rubbed his shoulders soothingly in a bid to calm the situation down, and Leo relaxed reluctantly. "It's okay Leo," he snaked his head around to look at her, taking a section of hair in his teeth and tugging gently with a deep chirrup. She smiled and scratched his jaw, avoiding the sore areas where his teeth were coming through. "Let's go home."

Home.

It was nice having a place to connect to the word – the Land of Departure was _home_. Well…as she watched Ven and Terra continue to bicker, clad in their armour, Mel knew it was home because her friends were there.

"Mel!"

She jumped, and blinked as Kyo stormed over.

"You were going to go without saying goodbye!" he accused her.

After placating her brother and saying goodbye to everyone else, Mel said to Leo, "I think I'm losing the plot."

His only response was to rub his face against her, unable to give her a reassuring lick through his helmet, and rumbled deep in his chest. Mel burst out laughing as Ven floated past them lazily on his glider and said, "Wait, we had a _plot_ to begin with?!"

XOXOX


	21. Of Eidolons and Scions

**AN: well now this was mildly entertaining to write xD plans for the next chapter are…in the works, and I'm under the weather again, so bear with me for the moment ;)**

**And yes, once again I owe much to **HeartofFyrwinde **in the plot, idea bouncing and sanity departments :P have as many virtual chocolate chips cookies as you like :D**

_**Of Eidolons and Scions**_

The sun was still setting when they arrived home, bathing everything in a soft, warm light as the first stars prepared to make their appearance. Terra was glad to be back, and ready to fall into bed after something hot to eat. He tried to focus on what Mel had said, rather than on what he had seen when that heartless appeared in the arena. He had a nasty feeling that he was going to have nightmares about it now…

"Ugh!" Ven groaned loudly, stumbling up the stairs at a surprisingly fast pace. "So hungry!"

Mel slid from Leo's back and nearly collapsed, but Leo and Aqua caught her, and Terra shuffled over to see what was wrong. She tried to wave them all away, but she looked quite ill, and Terra started worrying over her. Leo sniffed at her to check she was okay before scuttling off after Ven.

"I think it's just that it's getting late, I've had a long day, and I'm really hungry," she said, hugging her stomach. "I feel sick when I go too long without food, and we did a lot of running around today."

Aqua massaged her temples. "I appreciate Sora's sentiment, but ice cream isn't _that_ filling…"

Terra laughed, despite himself. "Yeah, but it sure tasted good!"

Mel managed a weak smile. "There is such a thing as having _too much_."

"Try telling Sora that," Terra grinned, and the two women had a good giggle over it.

Terra was about to suggest some left over soup before bed, but was interrupted by Ven and Leo tearing down the staircase, yelling and roaring loudly.

"AQUA!"

"Ven, I'm right here!" she snapped, tired and cranky. He'd have to watch his step around her at this rate.

"We've been broken into!" Ven stated, his eyes wide and troubled. "Someone's been in and smashed everything up!"

Leo whined in agitation, tail slamming against the stone steps and kept motioning towards the double doors, which Terra now saw were hanging from their hinges. He felt a cold prickle of dread on the back of his neck, and exchanged looks with Mel as Aqua ran on after Ven. The atrium was in shambles, as was the great hall; things had been knocked over, several windows were cracked or smashed completely, and there were scorch marks all over the walls and floor. Mel was edging around a section of shattered glass when she doubled over and nearly fell onto the splintered mass of fractured shards. Terra swooped down and managed to catch her before she landed in it, and helped her away from the broken glass before letting her sit down against a wall that had suffered less damage than most.

"What _happened_?" Ven asked out loud.

"Leo!" Mel said, trying to get up but unable to struggle past Terra's restraining hands as Leo nosed his way over to a broken window. "Don't go near that, you'll get glass in your feet!"

Aqua was staring with concentration around the hall, frowning deeply. Eventually after several tense and silent minutes she said, "Darkness has been here, but it isn't anymore."

Ven and Terra exchanged looks before he said, "We'd better stay in pairs. I'll go check the east wing with Aqua,"

"We'll go check the west wing then. C'mon, Mel." Ven said, helping her to stand up. Leo looked between the two groups before he scuttled off after Mel, surprisingly enough.

The library and the stores rooms were all a mess – things had been thrown around seemingly at random, but in the library there were distinct signs that methodical searching had taken place, and the havoc had been created to cover it up. Books were strewn everywhere, but there was a subtle pattern to the shelves that were knocked over, full of prose and novels, and the bookcases that were still standing, with their contents disgorged on the floor in piles, some of the books lying with covers bent and pages ripped out like confetti and festooned across the room. Aqua flitted around to check the extent of the damage, and Terra went to check the Master's Study next door.

They rarely used this room, mainly because it served as a painful reminder that Master Eraqus wasn't around anymore – it had been left pretty much the way he had kept it. Books were again tipped over and ripped apart, or flung across the room – tables upturned, a chair had been broken and left against the heavy desk that was scratched and scrapped, with the drawers all pulled out and their content smashed against the floor. Terra cringed from the sight and hurried back to Aqua, who looked edgy and close to tears as she lifted a couple of books that were only just salvageable.

"Did you find anything?" she asked, voice tight.

"Just more of this," he admitted, looking around the library. It felt like half his childhood had been spent in this room – it was deeply upsetting to see it in such ruin.

They hurried to the other wing of the castle, stopping to check rooms as they went. Leo's had been severely trashed, with the rack they had made to mount his saddles completely smashed to pieces – the saddles themselves had to be buried in the rubble somewhere. They moved on to the kitchen and common room; food was thrown all over the place, and the common room had been completely vandalised. Cushions slashed, water thrown into the fireplace, and someone had taken sticks of chalk and drawn huge jagged lines through the doodle corner so most of the pictures were more or less ruined.

Terra jumped as they ran into the corridor where the dorms were, but it was only Ven coming to look for them. "You seen the bathroom?" he asked in a somewhat deadpan tone, though his eyes were wide.

While Aqua went to her room, Terra went on ahead to check the bathroom for himself. The floor was slick with a contorted rainbow of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, and bubble bath; some of the tiles were cracked, and a pane in the door to the shower was warped, which in turn distorted the panel.

Terra's room seemed to have faired pretty well in comparison to everything else he had seen so far; clothes were tipped all over the place, books tossed around, and the woodwork projects he had started on were in a heap under the window. He bent down and picked up a plank he had salvaged from a trip and planned to turn into a plaque – now snapped in half and shedding splinters everywhere. It was a shock to see his room in such disarray, but it could have been far worse. He looked at the slashed pillow dully and wondered if he could find a spare one to sleep with tonight.

Outside in the corridor he found Aqua standing in the doorway to her room, shell-shocked. In her hand she held one of the glass candleholders he had given her for her birthday, broken cleanly into three pieces. She looked at Terra as if she had just been punched in the stomach, but pushed him away when he tried to help.

"Just needs cleaning up," she said shakily, setting the broken glass down. "I don't _think_ anything's been damaged too badly…" the blanket Mel had made had been ripped, and again all the books had been tossed around and the desk cleared off completely onto the floor in one big, sweeping mess.

Ven was hovering by Mel's door, agitated. He looked at Terra, a lost expression he hadn't seen on the boy's face for years, which more than anything else made his heart clench in fear.

"What is it?" Terra said urgently.

Ven just pointed inside, and he stepped over the threshold. Mel was on her knees, surveying the scene before her. _Everything_ was broken – her owl wing rattle had been brutally snapped in two, the wing bent out of shape and hanging by the merest threads; the pot plants she had been growing with Ven's help had been tipped over and stamped on so the soil was ground into the carpet, and the plants beyond hope of saving; her sketchbooks and loose pictures had been torn up and left scattered across the room; the wardrobe had been attacked and her clothes lay in a pile, some of them torn, and her huge Bergen had been ripped apart with badges and key rings strewn among the rest of the objects on the floor; the bed had been upturned and the mattress had suffered a sharp blow, with springs poking through the gashes that had gone straight through the bedding and had probably been dealt by a knife.

But worst of all, the pouches and small boxes Mel kept her crystals and rocks in had been thrown against the wall where they had smashed, and most of the pieces inside hadn't survived the onslaught. One large blue crystal had been hurled repeatedly against the wall where it had fragmented and shattered before it was ground into a tiny, sorry looking ball that was then chucked to the floor and kicked under foot until it was not much more than thick dust.

It was…

There wasn't even a word for it. Somehow, seeing Mel's possessions, that had taken eleven years to collect and carry around, that served a healing purpose, that she so freely gave to help others, just so unceremoniously destroyed… it felt like a physical blow.

Mel ran her fingers over the owl wing, trying to straighten the bent and torn feathers. She was shaking her head slowly, completely stunned. Terra wanted to speak, say something – _anything_, but what the hell could you say to that? He retreated hastily back to Aqua, at a complete loss; she was sat on her bed, her head in her hands, but looked up when he came in.

"I just don't understand _why_," she said, desperately looking for a reason. "Why would someone do this? What were they after?"

"Dunno." Terra said, thinking back on what he had seen in the library. "But…I think they were looking for something. In the library, some of the books were just knocked over, but some of them looked like they had been pulled off the shelves on purpose. Only the fiction books were badly damaged. Whoever it was must have searching for something,"

There was a keening sound from Leo, and as they both rose to respond Ven ran past shouting, "I got it!" so they both sat down again.

"It's just…" Aqua leant forward and put her head in her hands. "Too much…"

On top of everything else today, it was just way too much. He reached for her and she put her arms around his neck, breathing long and deep to keep it even.

Terra yelped and jumped out of his skin as something crashed through the door, but it just Mel. Only she had a frantic look in her eyes and seemed close to tears – which was not like her at all. She always managed to face a crisis calmly, and keep it together for herself and everyone else; it was a shock to see her like this, just as much as it was to see the devastation to her room. It reminded him painfully of the onetime he had seen her lose it before.

"It's gone!" she cried, shaking violently as though she would collapse again.

"What's gone?" Aqua jumped up and ran to her, and she flung her arms around her.

"The box!" Mel started crying, and she looked terrified. "The box with the dragon book in it! I put Leo's eggshell in it and the baby feathers and his teeth and – and-! It's gone!"

Terra blinked as she dissolved into tears in Aqua's arms. "Are you sure? It might just be under a pile of-"

"I've looked everywhere! It's not in there, it's gone! I don't know what to do!"

"Calm down," Aqua said firmly, telling her just what to do, and she hiccoughed as she tried to stifle her sobs. "We'll go back and have another look. If it's there, it can't have gone too far."

"Mel?" Ven asked anxiously, hovering just outside the door, but he was pushed aside impatiently by Leo, who called for Mel in concern before he stuck his head through the door and tried to reach her.

Suddenly, something clicked into place in Terra's head, and he raced outside and grabbed Ven by the arm.

"Gah! What is it, Terra?"

"We need to check something, _now_." He didn't explain until the reached the library, and with the situation as dire as it was Ven didn't complain too much. "Check all the books over here, they were obviously looking for something, and we need to know what."

It turned out the undamaged books that had been scattered in a semicircle around their bookcases all had one thing in common – ancient and arcane lore, both magic and martial, as well as historic. The same went for the Master's Study; the books that had been picked from the shelves rather than tipped and thrown were all along the same lines in terms of content. They hastened back to the dorms, and found Aqua had brought Mel a mug of hot chocolate before going back to double check on something.

Terra left Ven with her and Leo before going to look for Aqua; he looked all over before he eventually found her in the Master's Study. She was slumped against the desk, head down and shoulders shaking; when he gently touched her arm she flung them both around his neck and sobbed, offering no explanation for her sorrow. He didn't have far to look – one of the drawers that had been smashed against the floor had been carefully laid on the desktop, and it was full of mementos the Master had gathered.

Two bent and damaged photo frames, one with the glass completely smashed, were on the top of the pile. One was of the three of them as apprentices – Ven in the middle and standing on a rock to make him taller than the others, grinning happily in the bright sunlight. Aqua had an arm around his waist, Terra an arm around his shoulders, having to stretch up to reach him, and they both held out their other arms and used their hands to create a heart shape between them; her eyes were closed as she laughed, and he was trying to reign his own laughter in as he gazed up at Ven's goofy grin. The second photo – the frame badly damaged and glass broken – was of them and their Master, convened on the stairs outside the front door. Ven stood in the middle at the front, grinning and cheerful as always; Aqua had one arm around Master Eraqus' own arm, and the other extended towards Ven, who in turn wrapped both of his arms around hers. Terra was leaning heavily on the Master's shoulder, grinning at the camera while the man bore their antics good-naturedly with a warm smile.

Around the photos were an assortment of things Terra recognised from _years_ ago: a small wooden keyblade he had made, more like a toothpick than anything else that Aqua had teased him over; a skeleton leaf from the first autumn after Ven arrived, that he had come running to the Master to ask questions about when he found it; a picture Aqua had painstakingly drawn of the castle, the edges fading and crumpled with age; a little clay robin Ven had made that looked more like and red and brown blob, that Terra had said was vomiting up it's breakfast rather than carrying a sprig of mistletoe in its mouth; and loads more besides. Every single one of them had sustained some sort of damage to varying degrees – the leaf had fared best, but the robin had been smashed to pieces and was only identifiable by the colour and familiar shape of the splodges Ven had worked so hard to paint onto it.

Terra didn't know what to do, besides hold Aqua until her grief subsided. It hurt almost as much seeing replays in his head of everything that had led to the confrontation with Xehanort, of his own stupidity, to see his childhood so brutally attacked. His own tears mixed with Aqua's on her cheeks.

A long while later, after copious amounts of hot chocolate and buttered toast (all that could be made with any ease in the destruction of the kitchen) they all curled up together in the common room using Leo as a pillow. He seemed just as agitated as they were, and he calmed down considerably under Mel's gentle touch, and gulped down half of her drink in one go without her minding too much.

Terra lay awake for hours while the others drifted in and out of consciousness. Aqua tossed and turned, and woke up countless times; Mel only woke once, but she kept twitching and shifting restlessly in her sleep, and only stilled when Ven put and arm around her waist, and Aqua took hold of her hand, Leo's muzzled resting against her stomach. Ven himself lay mostly still, though he shuffled and shifted whenever Mel did, and his eyes kept opening to stare blindly ahead before he closed them again as if sleep eluded him.

When sleep finally did claim Terra, the nightmares started to hone in and he woke up in a cold sweat in the hour just before dawn to find Aqua stroking his face comfortingly. Neither of them said anything; she pulled him close and he curled up against her, his cheek resting just over her heart, the slow and steady beat lulling him into a restless but dreamless sleep for just a bit longer.

With the sun streaming in brilliantly through the windows, Terra got up, knowing he could sleep no longer, no matter how much he tried. They all had dark circles under their eyes, and lay in uncomfortably hunched positions; Mel was using her arms and a cuddly toy dog that usually lived at the foot of her bed for a pillow. Leo croaked feebly as Terra left the room to start on something for breakfast amid the chaos of the kitchen. He did the best he could, but a small helping of scrambled eggs between the four of them, and three tiny rashers of bacon for Leo didn't really cut it.

After they had risen and eaten, Aqua cleared her throat meaningfully and the tentative conversation died instantly. She looked at each of them in turn before she said, "We need to clean up, but we also need to figure out who did this and what they were after. I'm going to ask Master Yen Sid to help, so don't try moving anything just yet."

"'Kay," Ven said in an uncharacteristically small voice.

Terra made a noncommittal noise, and Mel just nodded. Leo edge over and rubbed his head against Aqua's side, and she pulled him into a hug as he crooned soothingly, the tip of his tail tapping against the floor.

XOXOX

Yen Sid considered the young woman with the glowing red and gold-flecked wolf closely as they others looked on with interest. They had been looking forward to this lesson, especially since it would be the first bit of good news in a while; what with the break in and trashing of the castle, followed by the Committee's failed attempts to catch the mysterious creatures on camera (something about the circuits being constantly fried by spurious circumstances): in short, they needed a good dose of optimism. Initial suspicions were that information on Leo was the target, but this had yet to be properly confirmed; Mel was so agitated that she wasn't able to dowse, or do any meaningful divining because she was far too concerned for Leo – dowsing essentially required impartiality, and she was far from impartial on the subject at hand. Aqua was just thankful that the far more comprehensive notes they had made between them had been divided up between Yen Sid and Ansem to read for themselves, and a few had been left on her own desk. The ones she had kept back were still rough and looked like they could be notes for any number of different subjects – they had been damaged, but not irreparably so, and she was certain she could salvage them without having to rewrite them all. It had half annoyed her when Ven cracked a joke about how her scrappy hand writing had saved the day, making the looters over look them; Aqua smiled when Mel burst out laughing at this remark, and then gaze at her wide eyed as if afraid she had hurt Aqua's feelings. She had pulled the blonde woman into her arms and hugged her tight, laughing herself – it felt good, _normal_, to laugh, even if it was at her at own expense.

Now, Yen Sid was over seeing this charm Mel had told them about, and they all waited for his opinion as he deliberated over the issue at hand. Finally, he turned to the group at large and said, "This is a very old, very high level branch of magic. Night Ghasts are indeed rare, and this is an effective method to tackle them, but it is useful for other reasons too. I think it would be wise for you all to learn this spell."

They got down to it right away, and Mel spent the first ten minutes explaining the mechanics behind the spell – the happy thoughts, the powerful focus of intent needed to bring the charm into existence and the lesser force needed to keep it going, and the how's and why's of the form of the projection. They were gathered in the great hall, which was now clear of debris and felt less ominous; Mel had managed to salvage a few things from her room (though she had made a trip to Radiant Garden to find some replacements for things that were beyond hope of recovery) and made an instrument to cleanse the Dark residue left behind through sound. It was a sort of bowl, with a makeshift pestle that she ran around the edges of the bowl to create a ringing sound that cleared the ambiance of the castle and put everyone in a decidedly more cheerful mood. Sora, Riku and Kairi had been aghast and greatly concerned about what had happened, but with the clear up operation mostly done and Mel's cleansing completed, it was hard to feel _too_ gloomy. Especially when Sora was bouncing off the walls and ceiling – a considerable height above them at that – with the prospect of learning a new spell.

Rhiannon sat with poised dignity while sternly ignoring Lea and Lynn; he was sniggering and watching with playful condescension while Lynn's scowl deepened and she wracked her brains for a solution to the problem beseeching the camera trap project, not really focused on the task at hand. She had started the project off by boasting about her tracking and technical skills – and then it had all fallen to pieces, and she was at a complete loss to explain why. This was something Lea found hilarious, but she was more focused on fixing the problem than lashing out at him for his rather unhelpful comments on the situation.

"It could be any manifestation of any part of your being." Mel explained to the group at large. "Your soul, or your personality; your will, magic, any totems, power animals – literally anything, but it is _always_ an animal form that appears. It can be an obvious one, like with us," she gestured at the wolf curled up by her feet, watching them with bright yellow eyes that held the exact same expression Mel herself had when she was quietly studying a person or situation. "Or it could be something random and unexpected. My grandfather was associated with lots of animals like the eagle for spirit and the element of air, and the mountain lion for leadership – and his Eidolon was a butterfly."

Lea snorted, and smiled sweetly at the withering looks he got from Lynn and Rhiannon. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Mel was surprised and startled that he thought it was so funny. "Butterfly Medicine is the Medicine of transformation, and it's a symbol for warrior courage."

"Huh?" Sora asked, wide eyed. "Really? How come?"

"Well," Mel bit her lip, caught off guard. She had been quite edgy and prone to unbalancing since the break in. "The world is a very different place outside the chrysalis… It takes a lot of courage to break free and fly away when your whole life has been spent bound to the ground."

Aqua smiled at Terra, who grinned back – you couldn't argue with Mel's logic when she put it like that.

After a quick pep talk and a lightning round of questions, they set up to practise the spell. It was a lot harder than Mel had made it sound, but she insisted that once it was done the first time, each time the Eidolon was summoned it was much easier – the initial forging of the link was the hardest part.

"I think I'll throw in the towel here." Lynn said dully, watching Rhiannon manage to bring a silvery cloud of something into existence before it dropped and disappeared, amidst cursing in an unfamiliar language.

"I'm sure you can do it," Mel said uncertainly, trying to show her how best to do it. "Everyone is different,"

"It's not that," Lynn frowned and took up a stance before she relaxed and gave up again. "I 'ent got a proper heart, have I? Not much use casting this spell from the heart if you 'ent got one."

The silvery cloud in front of Rhiannon dropped and she shot Lynn a dark look.

"Aw'right, keep your hair on!" she said defensively. When Rhiannon turned away, she went on, "I'm surprised by how light and airy this place is now." They had come to help with the initial investigation and clean up, and Lynn had commented on the nasty atmosphere left behind.

Aqua smiled and put a hand on Mel's shoulder. "Melody's pretty handy to have around. She has a lot of good ideas."

Mel looked up at her and smiled. "Glad I'm of such good use to you."

"Yeah, but what did you _do_?" Lynn looked intrigued.

"I used sound." Mel said. "A cleansing bowl made of crystal, though I had to use a different rod because my one was damaged so the sound wasn't right."

"And how does that work, exactly?" Aqua was all but used to Lynn's mannerisms by now; she sometimes flared brilliantly with one particular emotion, and the rest of the time was dispassionate and unreadable. When she gave what looked to be a distant and calculating look, it was merely her thinking face in the absence of any stronger emotions. Mel seemed completely oblivious to it, once she became acquainted with Lynn's ways.

"It's…hard to explain." Mel raised her hands to shoulder height, elbows tucked in and eyes closed. "The sound frequency of the crystal resonates at a particular pitch that cancels out negativity, or Dark energy, and amplifies positivity. Because like energies attract each other, when positive energy is amplified it draws more to it, which keeps the negativity from seeping back in quite so quickly. If that makes any sense whatsoever…"

"No, I get that. Kinda," Lynn frowned. "I'm just trying to picture it in my head…"

"Um…" Mel frowned herself before she started moving her arms and hands in a sort of dance, keeping the rest of her body still. "Like this? This is the frequency the crystal runs at when you hit it properly."

Lynn didn't get it at all, and Mel went to get the bowl so she could demonstrate, as well as another useful acoustic gadget she had made consisting of two metal dishes attached to a wooden plaque that could be struck and made two distinct ringing sounds each; one set in harmony with each other, the other off key.

"So, if you don't get the right angle it sounds wrong, like this," Mel demonstrated on the crystal bowl, and Terra and Ven nearby jumped at the sudden discord it entailed. "So it's important to get it right when you're cleansing, like this," the next note was loud and pure, and the boys relaxed again. "These ones tell you if the room needs clearing; it will sound in tune now because the hall's been cleared already, but if it wasn't the sounds would be out of tune and sound rather horrible."

Lynn was regarding the instruments closely, still frowning.

"Can you cleanse objects like that?" Aqua asked out of the blue, curious about the subject. She should have been trying her hand at the Eidolon's Call, but she was wrapped up in this at the moment since it had been brought up in conversation.

"Yeah, you can get bowls like this, with a raised mound in the middle, and you put objects on it to be cleansed. I don't have one myself; they're usually bigger and difficult to carry around."

"So like," Lynn tapped the metal dishes, listening to the sweet note that hung in the air. "Does this work on _anything_?"

"Well…I suppose so. It's worked every time I've tried using it. There was this boy I met who had a lot of problems with his computer. He was quite an angry and confrontational person, and that actually effected the hardware and software of his computer – like a focused power of intent. The more he got angry about something the more likely something would go wrong and his computer would crash. He was amazed when I got it to work again without having to take it to pieces and rebuild it, and all I did was run this around it a few times to work the negative kinks out of the system."

Aqua smiled and said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Mel turned to look at Ven and Terra, currently trying to throttle each other, good-naturedly. "Probably kill those two." She stated bluntly in her quiet and contained manner.

"Is it just these two notes that work or what?" Lynn asked, tapping the two metal bowls.

"Oh, lots of notes. That's why songs can be used to heal was well, especially drum music. As long as the notes are in harmony with each other, it should work. Happy songs are the best, sad ones can attract negative emotions that start building up energy that attracts the wrong sort of energy to it." When asked, Mel hummed a simple tune that went with the pure notes the dishes yielded, and Lynn's eyes grew very wide and her whole body stilled. "Have I done something wrong?" she asked quickly, startled.

Lynn almost swept Mel off her feet, having to bend down low to reach her properly since the difference in their height was almost ridiculous. "Mels you're _brilliant_!" she kissed the crown of her head with exaggeration before she turned on her heel and raced back to her rucksack on the floor and pulled out a notebook, which she proceeded to scribble into in short hand. In answer to the strange looks everyone around shot at her, she said, "The circuits are being shorted out by something, right? Joey builds a resonator into the system to protect it from harmful frequencies and _boom_!" she spread her hands with a grin, leaning her body to one side for effect. "We are so in there!"

"Glad to see _some_ good has come out of today," Rhiannon snarled, glaring at her fists.

"I _think_ I kinda got it," Sora said, frowning with concentration, screwing his eyes shut tight. "I can see _something_…"

"Keep trying. The first time is always the hardest, but once you know how to do it the spell is really easy." Mel said encouragingly. She merely had to raise her left hand above her head to summon her own Eidolon, but she was well practised in such magic, so it hardly came as a surprise. She said it could be done in a number of different ways, using gesture and sound to help – she even still hummed under her breath to aid herself on occasion.

Aqua tried several times with little success, and she sat down for a while to think and watch the others. Ven was the first to manage it, and she laughed with delight when she saw the form it took; a huge golden retriever bounded into existence as he pumped his right fist into the air, shouting, "C'mon!" the dog moved with the same energetic vigour that Ven himself did, and glowed with the colour of rich, golden butter.

Mel gasped when she first saw the Eidolon, and then she rolled her eyes upwards and smacked herself in the face with her hand. When prodded for a reason for her reaction, she just said quietly, "That explains a lot in my version of reality."

Aqua got up and tried again, but didn't get much further than before. She tried not to get frustrated, and allowed herself to get sidetracked by watching Leo who was staring at the retriever and wolf running circles around him, chasing each other. It made her smile, but then she turned back to the task at hand with a frown of concentration.

Kairi got the hang of it next, and hers was a beautiful, iridescent bird of shimmering white with gold tipped feathers that looked remarkably like a picture of a phoenix from one of the books Aqua had recently read. It hovered in the air above, around about shoulder height, and didn't settle on any solid surface apart from Kairi's arm.

"Whoa!" Lynn blinked at the bright light it emitted. "It's like an LED light bulb on steroids," the comment earned a round of giggles and titters, and Lynn gave Aqua a crooked smile in response to her raised eyebrow. "Well it _does_," she said playfully.

"That's so _cool_!" Kairi squealed with delight for having managed the spell, and also for mastering it before Riku and Sora – the fact it was a mass of glowing, shimmering white and gold light didn't seem to be the primary object of her amazement.

"Must be because she's a Princess of Heart," Lynn said when Yen Sid pondered out loud on the form her Eidolon had taken. Ven's golden retriever and Mel's red and gold wolf shimmered with a light of their own, but it was dim and paled in comparison to the brilliance of the shining bird perched on Kairi's shoulder.

"I believe you are right, Master Evalyn." Yen Sid said sagely, and she winced. Lynn had not been keen to see him again after so long, even though her situation had been explained and her sincerity vouched for. She wasn't entirely comfortable, though after Yen Sid had spoken gravely of his pleasure to find she was still alive and a force for good, she relented on her uneasiness a bit. She was still rather contrite for disappearing for four years without a word, and it seemed neither Yen Sid nor Rhiannon were going to let her forget in a hurry.

"How'd you do it?" Sora asked Ven loudly over the noise, puzzled out of his mind.

"Well, sort of just like," Ven thrust his fist into the air, "And I said 'c'mon!', like _enough already_," he grinned as the dog bounded back to him and sat back on its hind legs, tail wagging happily.

Sora looked at his own hand, slowly clenched into a fist. He raised it above his head and splayed his fingers out, shouting, "C'mon – _light_!"

Nothing happened.

"Aww man!" he despaired.

"Try again, Sora," Aqua said. "I thought I felt something for a moment,"

Sora looked at her, and then at his hands. "I know." He said miserably. Then, louder and with more force, fed mostly by his frustration, he said loudly, "I know you can hear me!"

"Gah!" Riku jumped out of his skin, and everyone else around took a sweeping step back as a shape exploded into being above Sora.

"Hey, wassup?" he asked with a dazed expression, and then he looked up in time to see the _huge_ bald eagle come to settle on the ground by his feet. He jumped himself, but the shock wore off quickly as he gazed at his Eidolon with a mixture or astonishment and awe. "Whoa! Did you _see_ that?!"

"Well done!" Mel was pleased with the progress being made, and smiled widely as Sora started interacting with the eagle – it settled on his arm and started preening his hair, much the same way Leo did. "It took me over a day to get this spell right, you're all doing really well."

Terra stared at the floor dejectedly. "I'm never gonna do it."

"Well you won't with _that_ attitude," Lynn said disparagingly.

He shot her an annoyed look and said, "And why aren't _you_ trying?"

"I'm a nobody. What good'll it do? Besides!" she said bracingly, wrapping an arm around Rhiannon's shoulders and hugged her tightly. "I've got myself a meat shield right here to take care of me should I ever need this spell!"

"Bitch!" Rhiannon snarled. "I almost had it, and you broke my concentration!"

"Oh, I do apologise. Most sincerely. Okay! I'll bugger off," she ducked and fled from the scene as Rhiannon got angry and went for her.

Riku spun his keyblade idly around in his hand, staring at the wall with concentration. He slid his right leg back and settled into a strong fighting stance, bringing his keyblade back into the ready position and pointing it forward, striking a pose almost lazily, and he jumped again as a silver blur ran past him and halfway towards Mel before it turned around again and stilled. It was a large wolf, snowy white and shot through with silver much the same way that Mel's wolf was peppered with gold and bronze as well as red. Its eyes were a deep, tawny yellow, and its nose was a stark black against the colour of its pelt. As Riku watched with awe Mel's Eidolon trotted over, tiny in comparison, and they rubbed noses; Sora's eagle took flight and landed on the white wolf's back where it settled comfortably, and closed its bright yellow eyes in contentment.

Aqua watched the two boys stare first at the Eidolons as Mel's wolf once again trotted away, and then at each other in amazement. Then in unison, they both grinned widely, and Riku leant over to push Sora squarely in the chest so he stumbled backwards.

"Hey-!"

"I can never get rid of you, can I? No matter what!"

Sora looked aghast. "Why'd you wanna get rid of me? Hey, Riku! Get back here!" he shouted, chasing after him while Kairi doubled over with laughter.

The two Eidolons followed the chase, circling and dodging around each other, but never seeking to outrun or escape – just simply bound together by some invisible but inexorable force while their humans fought.

"Keep trying Aqua, I'm sure you'll get it," Ven said happily, patting his dog on the head.

Aqua smiled as the red wolf brushed up against her leg as it plodded past. "I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong,"

"Nothing." Mel insisted.

Terra caught Aqua's eye, and by unspoken consensus it became a race to see who could call their Eidolon first. She tried very hard to focus on what Mel had said, but her concentration was shattered as Rhiannon finally managed to bring hers into physical form. Out of the silver mist she had managed to produce, a large strawberry roan stallion burst into being and cantered around the great hall before trotting up to her and lowering its head in submission to the person who it had conjured.

"Aww," Lynn said, mouth hanging open. "_Awesome_!" she breathed as Rhiannon grinned and stuck her tongue out at her.

"How d'ya like me now, Eaves?"

"Well, the cocky attitude is a downer, but don't get me wrong – that beast is _massively_ impressive."

That just left Lea, Terra and Aqua now, since Lynn had taken herself out of the running.

Rather than forcing it, Aqua decided to try relaxing and letting go – her magic had come more easily to her when she first started training, when she didn't care so much about the outcome. Putting too much weight added unnecessary stress to the task, so she tried simply not caring.

It took a while, but when she heard gasps of amazement she opened her eyes and found herself looking down upon a beautiful mute swan stood before her; pristine plumage accentuated by the stark contrast of its black and orange bill that stood out against the white feathers. She looked up at Aqua, full of grace and serenity, and she felt the wonder of the moment. This was _her_, a part of her; a manifestation of her being. The swan encapsulated a part of Aqua's personality, and she now understood why the others had gazed upon their Eidolons as they appeared with such awe. It was such a personal thing, for others to see a part of you on clear display like that, and an even bigger surprise to see it for yourself. _I'm a swan_, she thought to herself.

Aqua looked up smiling, but she saw Terra's scowl and clenched fist, and she faltered. He was clearly upset that she had beaten him, and was annoyed at his inability to conjure the spell. Mel flitted to his side and put a hand on his arm, speaking to him in a low voice that didn't carry. He relented, and gave her a wry smile and said something Aqua didn't catch. Mel motioned for him to try again, and he did, frowning deeply with concentration.

"At least you can still beat Lea," Ven said bracingly, making Riku and Sora snigger behind their hands.

Lynn clapped Lea round the back of the head and said, "A'right, Red?"

Lea swore at her, causing all the youngsters to stare at him in abject horror with the severity of his chosen words. Lynn merely raised her eyebrows and took a dramatic step back, hands held in surrender.

"Well now," Rhiannon said with a smirk, patting the stallion's withers. "_That_ escalated quickly, to be sure."

"Shut up," Lea snapped.

"Enough," Aqua said loudly, too used to breaking up fights by now to really stop and think about it. She felt surprised when Rhiannon gave her an offended look that became a scowl when Lynn laughed.

"Don't want the High Master pissed off with you, do we?" she teased.

"Evie."

"Lynn." She snapped in response, annoyed.

"Evalyn, don't make me-!"

"What, come over 'ere? Bring it slag, I 'ent afraid of you and you're _My Little Pony _familiar!" Aqua bit her lip, afraid she had caused the argument, but Lynn waved her worries away. "'Ow often is it that Rhi has to submit to a superior? Like _never_! This is hilarious!" she beamed at Rhiannon's scowl. "I think I'm a bit hyper. Whoa! Haven't felt like _this_ in years!"

"What did you have for breakfast, pet?"

"Nothing yet. Didn't feel that hungry. I think I'm hyper because I has a solution to our problem now," she waved the notebook around in the air. "I feel great! Oi, shortie! C'mere, I have another victory hug with your name on it, you brilliant girl!"

"Oi!" Rhiannon said loudly as Lynn lifted Mel off the ground from behind with a bear hug. "Stop molesting Aqua's students and get your arse over here,"

Aqua turned her attention to Terra, stood in his usual hunched and brooding posture when he was annoyed with himself. Ven hanging off his arm and talking loudly probably didn't help matters, and Mel was busy helping Lea so she couldn't exert her calming influence. Aqua detached Ven and sent him to check on Leo, who was bored and sulking over being ignored in favour of the shiny animals, and hugged Terra's arm.

"Go away," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes closed.

"Nope."

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

"You're obnoxious and a busy body."

"I'm trying to help."

"Then go away."

"I thought you could have a memory jogger."

"For what, exactly?"

Terra remained still as Aqua put her hands on his shoulders and leant up to brush her lips against his briefly. Despite his stubborn determination to remain obstinately gloomy, she felt him smile.

"Happy thoughts, Terra," Aqua said in a business like manner, smiling sweetly as she moved on to check on the rest of her charges, the shining Eidolon swan ambling after her. Showing her support in a measured amounts and giving him the space to be a grouch if he so chose was the best way to deal with Terra. They all made a show of joking about her elevated status, but really it was a bit weird still for her life long friends to have to defer to her so.

"Just keep trying," Mel said to Lea, who was steadfastly ignoring Lynn's snide remarks. As she cackled with laughter Mel turned to her abruptly and in her usual soft tones said, "You really shouldn't do that, it's effecting his concentration. That's not especially nice."

"C'mon, if I were still tryin' my hand in he'd be ripping it outta me. I'm just getting ahead while I can." Lynn said coolly, eyeing Mel up.

Aqua hid a smile. Mel may be tiny and soft spoken, but she was by no means a push over.

"Well, since you're here in Master Aqua's castle and this is my lesson at the request of Master Yen Sid, I ask you to either join in, or if not to be quiet or leave altogether so the rest of us can work in peace."

They stared each other down for a few tense moments; Lynn sizing Mel up, Mel merely standing her ground. With the barest flicker of acknowledgement Lynn turned to one side and head for her bag again.

"I'll be good," it was hard to tell if her tone was playful or mocking, but the smile she flashed Mel was good-natured enough. Rhiannon snorted into her hands, and Lynn turned her nose in the air.

"Maybe I'd get somewhere if I had a little _encouragement_." Lea said, looking down at his hands with a detached expression, puzzling it out.

Aqua couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this; she caught Ven's eye and smiled at his grin. Was Lea actually trying to _flirt_ with her? Ven seemed to think so, and apparently so did Rhiannon because she said, "Oi, quit flirtin' with my egit and get back to work!"

"I 'ent _your_ egit!" Lynn proclaimed imperiously. "I'm Master Solomon's and no one else's!"

Mel walked over with exaggerated softness to stand before Lynn and put a finger to her lips before whispering, "We're being very quiet, remember?"

Lynn leant forward and cupped a hand to her mouth that merely served to amplify her stage whisper, "Are we huntin' wabbits?"

"Not today, sorry. Maybe some other time. We're hunting Eidolons now." Mel whispered back. She turned around smoothly and looked at Terra as Lynn and Rhiannon dissolved into giggles over a shared joke that was beyond Aqua, and she followed Mel's gaze just in time.

He was stood with his left arm held out in front of him, and as Aqua watched a flickering circle of light on the floor in front of him shimmered before the gathering shape hovering above it took form. A huge brown bear stood on its hind legs towering over them all, looking down its great muzzle at the one who had called it forth.

"Oh _wow_!" Kairi breathed, staring up at the enormous beast in awe.

Aqua was likewise entranced, but it was shattered as Ven nearly fell over laughing. "You're just a big squishy teddy bear, really!" he giggled, his own Eidolon bouncing around his ankles.

Terra shot him an annoyed look, the wonderment dropping off quickly, but then he smirked and sauntered over, the bear following on all fours with its head hanging over his shoulder protectively. He stopped in front of Ven, who folded his arms and smirked back at him, eyebrows raised. Mel raised her hands and hid her face in despair pre-emptively.

"Yeah, maybe. But that makes you a bitch."

There was deadly silence as they stared each other down. Ven flexed his right hand, smirking widening.

"Say that _again_,"

Terra grinned, baring his teeth. "Bitch."

They went for each other.

"Guys! Please…" Aqua sighed and shook her head as they paid her no attention.

"If ya don't mind me saying, flower." Rhiannon said helpfully, putting a hand on Aqua's arm. "You don't really come across as a _High_ Master very well where these two are concerned."

"Take it as a compliment that they feel so at ease around you they can goof off." Lynn suggested helpfully.

"Why me…" Aqua moaned, hamming it up just a little bit, though her despair over the boys was genuine.

"I'm always the last one." Lea sighed. "I'm doomed to come in last every time we try something new,"

"Why's that?" Lynn asked, smoothing a wrinkle out of her top.

"Last to the keyblade, last to the Eidolon…"

"Aww, cheer up mate!" she slapped him on the back. "Slow and steady wins the race, and all that."

Lea looked up and gave her a lopsided smile. "Yeah, well sometimes coming last _does_ have its advantages, am I right?"

Lynn's smile was fixed in place, but she delicately raised an eyebrow. "You serious?"

"What do you think?" he countered, leaning toward her.

Aqua put her hands on the sides of her head and shook it. There was too much randomness going on. Rhiannon stalked over with ire in her eyes as Lynn said, "If you think you can worm your way into my underwear this 'ent the best way to do it. And if you're seeking to just take the piss then congratulations cause I am well and truly hacked off."

"Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not," Lea began, but he was interrupted.

"Step off, dick head." Rhiannon snapped.

"I think I'm perfectly capable of telling people to piss off your meddling, _tanks_." Lynn said.

"Yes, and we all know the secret of gettin' _you_ into bed. Couple'a pints of Guinness, and-"

Lynn turned around and swore rather violently at Rhiannon, making Sora and Riku stop and stare with wide eyes. Yen Sid cleared his throat when she finished and said, "Calm yourself, Evalyn."

"You see the abuse I put up with?! The _slander_!"

"Well it _is_ true," Rhiannon smirked at her.

"Oh yeah? And what about that German douche in Budapest?"

Rhiannon's face went a bright red and she spluttered.

"Yeah, 'ent so stupid as you think!" Lynn grinned wildly. "And I can tell _everyone_ here-!" she spread her arms wide to indicate the entire hall. "The secret of getting into _your_ knickers too, to even the score up a bit if you like, so _back off about my deep dark secrets unless you want me to ruin the illusion of respectability you 'ave for yourself here!_"

Rhiannon fumed for a few moments before she went for Lynn. The up side was that Ven and Terra stopped trying to kill each other in favour of watching the two women try to kill each other instead. The down side was, they still had two keyblade wielders trying to kill each other.

"This is bad, isn't it?" Riku said glumly, scratching Leo behind the ears because he had been so neglected recently.

"What? We fight all the time because we're best friends! Isn't that what they're doing?" Sora pointed out.

Riku looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Not exactly the best role models though, are they?"

Ven and Terra snorted with laughter, and Aqua sighed deeply, closing her eyes and raising her hand before smacking them both around the back of the head, to little over all effect.

The violence turned merely verbal after a short while, but they moved themselves further down the hall and really tore it into each other – eventually Yen Sid convinced them to take their argument outside since it seemed they were picking open a lot of festering wounds between them. Aqua was concerned, but Mel remained rather placid and said, "I think this has been bubbling for a while between them. Best they get it out in the open together. We should stick around just in case,"

"In case they turn homicidal?" Ven sniggered, ducking around Aqua's swipe aimed at his head.

"Well, for want of a better phrase, yes."

Whatever transpired between Rhiannon and Lynn was their business, and Aqua made it quite clear they shouldn't stick their noses in it. By the time they had cooled off and come back inside, both with a conspicuous amount of bruises each, Lea had managed to summon forth his own Eidolon. He was at first annoyed, and then became quite calm, even cracking jokes while the younger warriors crowded around to help.

"Maybe it's like the keyblade," he said idly, raising his hand and staring at it as his weapon appeared. "A snap in the wrist…"

And then the brilliantly coloured snake – bands of black, red, yellow and white scales in a sprawling pattern with a distinctive black marking under each eye – materialised in a flare of light, draped over his shoulders.

"Oh." Lea said, somewhat deadpan, while Sora, Riku and Ven fell over themselves in surprise.

"Whoa!" they chorused together in amazement.

"Rhi!" Lynn shrieked, pointing at him with mock terror. "It's Voldemort!"

Rhiannon paused for a moment before she succumbed to laughter, and they clung to each other for support. Ven and Sora found it funny too, and were on their knees laughing while Lea played with his Eidolon.

"Pretty cool," he commented as Ven's golden retriever bounded around his ankles. "What's a snake for, anyway?"

"Transmutation." Mel said without missing a beat.

"In plain English?" Lea asked, looking straight down the snake's jewel bright eyes.

"The idea that, 'that which does not kill you makes you stronger'? Some shamans go round and get themselves bitten deliberately by venomous snakes, and over time they build up immunity to them. Snakes are also often associated with the element of fire, and a symbol of knowledge." She explained.

"Voldemort…"Rhiannon giggled, giving Lynn a shove. She had been staggering sideways at the time, and because of her slender frame she pitched over and landed on the floor in a heap. "You're such a spack!"

"I take great pride in my spackiness. It's taken me years to build up to this level!" she shook her fist at Rhiannon.

"Well, congrats everyone." Mel said, beaming. "You can all now perform the Eidolon's Call. Good work."

"Woohoo!" Sora bounced on the spot, and Leo trumpeted his approval, especially with Riku scratching his neck so he wasn't being ignored.

"We should celebrate!" Ven joined in with the festivities.

"With cake!" Sora added, looking hopefully at Aqua. "There's cake, right?"

"Sora!" Aqua laughed. "You're like a bottomless pit!"

"Careful, or you'll get fat," Kairi said, poking him in the stomach.

"Hey!" Sora squirmed and threw up his arms to protect himself.

Terra saw this and his eyes lit up with malicious glee. He caught Aqua's warning look and decided to ignore it.

"Sora, I had no idea you were ticklish," he simpered.

"Am not!" Sora snapped defensively.

"Oh yeah, he is." Riku descended upon him. "Wanna see?"

"Gah! Riku! Help! Kairi-! N-no! Not you too! I thought you were my friends! Go away! HELP ME!" he shouted at Ven, who was doubled over with mirth. Mel tried to come to his rescue as Kairi and Riku kept him pinned to the floor, but she wasn't strong enough to muscle through their defences.

They shouldn't have been scrapping, over something so trivial, but it made Aqua crack a real smile. Since the Night Ghast incident things had been…too negative. It was nice to feel almost normal again.

Lynn put her hands on her hips and studied them all as Rhiannon gently pressed her knuckles against the taller woman's cheek, in an exaggeratedly slow mock punch. They turned to each other, and said in unison, "Keyblade thing." They nodded once, and then Lynn clapped her hands together and said loudly, "I heard there was to be _food_ of some description, gov."

XOXOX

"That's such a bummer," Sora said dejectedly, looking at the spread of things on the library table, mostly Mel's broken possessions. "But, why'd they wanna destroy _rocks_?" it was a puzzling thought, one that Ven had applied himself to ever since the break in. It just made no _sense_… Books and information on keyblade lore, and dragon lore was one thing. But the assembled pieces of a shaman's wares, gathered over a decade…why would anyone go after that?

"Maybe they were up to something that the rocks were interfering with?" Lynn asked, lifting a lightweight brass bowl and examining the dents closely. "Some of those rocks feel kinda powerful. You'd be surprised how much bother they cause the Heartless."

"Master Sol used to line the boundaries of our castle with certain crystals for just that reason." Rhiannon put in. She wasn't so interested in this apparently, and soon left for the Master's Study to speak with Yen Sid.

"Kinda thorough though," Lynn said, frowning. "It's almost like they were trying to…" she didn't finish the thought.

"Trying to what?" Ven demanded of her as Mel placed another box on the table.

"Well, be a dick, for one thing," she said lazily, turning the bowl over in her hands. "How many crystals survived?" she asked Mel, ignoring Ven's question.

Mel's face fell as she looked down at her hands on the lid of the box, biting her lip. "Not many," she said in a small voice.

"Aww _mate_," Lynn poked at an open box in which a few shattered remains of various crystals had been collected. "That bites. Well sucks,"

"But, a couple of things didn't get too badly damaged." Mel said, trying to remain optimistic. She turned to Ven and said, "I was meaning to tell you, I found this in the wardrobe – it got away unscathed, well mostly. I must have put some shoes in there on top of them by accident, because whoever broke in didn't go after these." She lifted the lid, and removed the two pairs of sandals lying on the top, placing them on a chair. "I don't know what possessed me to use this as a shoe box, but it looks like it saved them."

"Well, 'ent all bad news then," Lynn said, lifting a large, round orb of crystal from a pile of busted up wooden utensils rather like drum sticks. "Hey, this one just got a scratch. Whoa, kinda powerful,"

"Is it?" Mel asked distractedly, busy lifting the new rocks out of the box. "I thought it looked pretty, but it never really spoke to me. That's why it ended up in the box."

"Don't think I've seen these ones before," Ven commented, taking one out for himself and looking deeply into its depths. It was rather cloudy and dim, with something hidden in the core that he couldn't see through the grey vales in the blue crystal. "What are they?"

"Just…crystals." She shrugged helplessly. "I'm not even sure why I hung onto them, to be honest. I just…never found the right time or place, or person to give them to. I felt the need to take them with me, but not to use them. I figured I had to drop them off somewhere eventually for someone else, but the time never came."

"Y'know what? This kinda reminds me of something," Lynn said, staring down at the one in her hand broodingly. She set it down and started a rolling drum pattern on her legs, and Ven rolled his eyes. "Trust me, mate. It's an effective learnin' strategy."

"Kinda annoying," Ven said stiltedly.

"Yeah, and like a nobody gives a damn what you think of them." She countered smoothly.

Sora plucked one from the box Mel had opened and lifted it up so the sunlight glancing off it's surface. It was a deep, royal purple with veins of darker colour and thin cobwebs of gold shot through to the concealed depths.

"Kinda cool," Sora grinned.

"What's up?" Aqua asked, walking into the library and looking at the mass of objects on the table.

"I was showing Lynn some more of my things. She's quite interested in the idea of energy frequencies being used to protect the camera traps." Mel explained.

"Can we have some more cake?" Sora asked hopefully, giving her Ven's best puppy dog expression.

"You're gonna get fat, just like Kairi said," Ven said in a singsong voice, grinning.

"Then I'll just go run a few laps! Hey, when you eat after exercise you metabolise your food faster, so you don't put on as much weight!" He was proud of himself for remembering. "See?" he pointed at himself, beaming. "Riku says I'm going to fail at everything in life, but I can remember everything from that last biology test!"

"I'd hazard a guess that Riku merely enjoys winding you up." Mel said, sifting through the box.

"What's that you got there, Sora?" Aqua asked, joining them at the table.

Lynn moved up to make room, but she was still rolling our drum patterns and absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Dunno, it was in Mel's box of tricks."

Mel smiled and said, "They survived somehow. I was meaning to tell you, but Master Yen Sid came and I got side tracked. I kept these separate from the others because I didn't really know what to use them for, but I hung on to them for years."

Ven was playing with a wooden flute that had had its mouthpiece stepped on and snapped. Terra was convinced it could be fixed, and Mel was eager to try – it had belonged to another shaman who had given it to her, and she wasn't prepared to chuck it out just yet. He didn't really notice much amiss until he became aware that Lynn's drumming had ceased; she was staring at Aqua with a frown, and he followed her gaze. Aqua was staring intently at the crystal in Sora's hands, and her eyes widened in surprise just before the crystal flared with light. Sora yelped and nearly dropped it, and they all jumped with alarm as they heard an almighty crash from outside.

"The hell!" Lynn shouted, jumping to her feet and reaching for the bow that wasn't slung across her back, and cursed loudly. She didn't have her daggers sheathed to her belt either, so she snapped, "_Fine_," to herself before raising her hand and summoning her keyblade.

Ven wasn't the only one who turned to look at the sight with wide eyes. It was the first time she had even considered to, let alone _summoned_ her weapon, whether voluntarily or not. It was a long blade, with a five pointed star made from delicate red tendrils chased with silver at the end that provided the teeth of the key shape. The stem was a slender straight line with two spirals, one bright red and the other warm yellow, forming a double helix that wound its way from the circular hand guard up the length of the keyblade to intertwine with the star. Ven wasn't sure exactly _what_ he was expecting from her keyblade, though it struck him or very different it was to Rhiannon's; hers had a sweeping curve and the top resembled a horse's head and rearing front legs, much like her tattoos, and coloured in dark greys and white with silver and gold markings. He wasn't sure if he had been expecting them to be similar, but they were as different as could be.

"What are you doing?!" Ven demanded of her as she settled into a fighting stance.

Lynn scoffed. "Crazy shit we don't understand going down only the other day – got no other weapons on me and you expect me not to? You outta your mind?"

Ven turned to look at Mel, scowling to himself, and saw her rigid posture as she stared out of the window. He rushed forward with Aqua and saw what it was that had made her still.

Clinging to the outside of the castle walls, staring back at them, was a dragon. It was the same dark purple of the crystal Sora was holding, the scales edged with gold; the wings were stiff and metallic, coloured in red and orange with yellow alongside the gold. Between the enormous wings hung a disc like wheel, the spokes of which were spiral shaped and reminded Ven vaguely of the sun. It was as different to Leo as could possibly be.

There was a very long pause, and Ven just looked at Aqua, dumbstruck. She looked at him as if she didn't quite see him, her mouth wide open, and Mel sagged against the windowsill, eyes impossibly wide. They all jumped violently when Lynn moved; she ran for the door to the corridor, screaming, "_RHI_!"

The dragon let go of its purchase on the walls and floated down to the ground below gracefully.

"What on _earth_ are you shrieking about now?" Rhiannon demanded, being dragged into the room against her will at top speed.

Lynn pointed at the window and shouted, "_Scion_! There's a _Scion_! Outside! Massive dragon _Scion of Light_!"

Rhiannon laughed at her and strolled towards the window, pausing to look at the expressions on their faces and faltered in her jaunty stride.

"What manner of power is this?" Yen Sid demanded as he hurried into library, eyebrows creased.

"There's a Scion of Light sat outside the castle – is anyone even listenin' to me?!"

"What's going on?" Riku skidded over the threshold as Rhiannon joined Mel's slumped posture. "Something just flew past the windows downstairs and we heard someone shouting,"

"Are you quite sure, Evalyn?" Yen Sid asked, remaining calm as everyone else around started to descend into panic.

"Look for yourself! That 'ent an ordinary dragon, or an ordinary _anything_!"

"Master Yen Sid," Rhiannon said in a tight voice, looking over her shoulder. "I tink you should come look at this."

"Is this the moment when we start panicking?" Riku asked, staring at Sora. "What _happened_?"

"I didn't do it!" Sora held the crystal at arm's length as if it might explode. "I don't know what I did! But I didn't do it!" he looked surprisingly put out when Yen Sid plucked the crystal from his hands as he walked past, studying it carefully. "Ummm…"

"Oh, so it's _your _fault? I might've known,"

"Hey!" Sora snapped, glowering at Riku. "I didn't do it! Not on purpose anyway!"

Terra skidded in behind Riku, almost knocking them both over. He looked from Ven to Aqua with a long-suffering and tired expression before saying listlessly, "Is there any reason why we have another dragon sat on the back lawn, or…?"

"Melody." Yen Sid said loudly, making her jump right out of her skin. "Where did you find these?" he gestured to the crystals in the box and scattered across the table, the ones still in tact.

"I-" she swallowed. "I found them. Two were in a market stall, and the others were just lying around in a riverbed. I…never found a use for them, but I didn't want to get rid of them, so I kept them, and…" words failed her.

"We must go outside and speak with him at once." Yen Sid said, deadly serious.

Aqua snapped out of her daze and ran for the door, Ven following closely on her heels. They raced down to the atrium and through the double doors to the courtyard where Leo was waiting for them, eyes fixed on the unfamiliar dragon. His stance was teetering on the edge of defensive; legs firmly planted, and neck arched backwards with his head held low to make himself less threatening – the usual tactic he used to placate someone he had annoyed.

Ven braced himself as he felt someone collide with him, and looked over his shoulder to find Sora and Riku scrabbling to regain their balance as they came to an abrupt halt, staring up at the huge dragon with fear and awe. It stood on two legs, and folded the other limbs like a pair of arms; the wings were held up stiffly and out at a slight angle so it gave the illusion of added size – although without them it was still far larger than even Leo, who stood taller at the shoulder than Terra now.

Yen Sid carefully cut a path through the crowd, carrying Mel's box with the other crystals placed carefully inside. Mel herself appeared from around Terra's elbow in the cramped space, exceptionally pale and eyes the widest of them all.

"That…" Rhiannon said slowly, raising a hand to point over Sora's head at the creature standing in the middle of the courtyard. "T'aint who I _tink_ it is, is it, pet?"

Lynn sank onto a step behind Terra, able to see over his head clearly. She gave Rhiannon a rather frank if somewhat dispassionate glance. "Well and truly," she said, making a gesture in the air in front of her that Ven didn't understand. "Sweet, merciful _Bahamut_."

"Oh Christ almighty…" Rhiannon put the heel of her hand to her forehead. "What would the Master say?"

"Umm…" Lynn gave her a disbelieving look. "'Bloody hell', for starters?" she supplied.

Terra elbowed them both as Yen Sid got ready to speak, and they all fell quiet.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are Bahamut, the Scion of Light?" his voice rang out loud and clear across the courtyard. Leo's ears pricked and he extended his neck so his could nose closer, but he didn't move his feet.

Ven yelped, and wasn't the only one when he heard the deep voice that resonated not from the being stood before them, but from within his own head.

"_Yes."_

"Whoa…" Sora breathed, his eyes impossibly wide.

"It can talk?" Riku murmured, and yelped when the voice spoke again.

"_I am capable of much more than human speech, young Master of The Keyblade."_ The mouth did not move, and nor did it need to – he was perfectly understandable without it. _"Might I know the name of the Children of the Keyblade who now stand before me?"_

Yen Sid introduced them all in official rank order, as was the proper custom. It felt a bit weird being placed before Terra, but that was the way the system worked – he had passed first time like Riku, and Terra and Sora had not.

Bahamut considered them all carefully for a while in silence before he spoke again. _"My thanks to you. Long we have awaited the correct time to emerge once again."_

"Am I correct in assuming that these other Crystals Melody was carrying with her are also the summoning stones for other Scions such as yourself?" Yen Sid asked.

"_Correct, Master Yen Sid."_

Mel nearly keeled over backwards, but Terra grabbed her arm and Lynn thrust out a hand to steady her back. It would have been hilarious, that expression on her face, if it weren't for the grave import this latest news brought.

"May I ask who else we have present here?"

"_We number fewer than before, we have not all been reunited as I would have liked, but there are more gathered here than I could have hoped for, and for that, Apprentice Melody you have our deepest thanks."_

Mel just nodded, not trusting her voice.

"_The summoning stones of the Scions Alexander, Valefor, Leviathan, Gilgamesh and Ifrit are in that box."_

Aqua's eyebrows shot up at this, and she looked first at the box, to Mel and back again, mouth working like a fish out of water. Those names registered dimly in Ven's mind, and he managed to recall a lesson where Master Eraqus had mentioned _Alexander_, a legendary fortress or something – it stuck out in his memories because he and Terra had been wrestling while Aqua eagerly asked questions that they both laughed at her for.

Ven wished he had paid more attention now…

"_I see that the Keyblade's Dragon has returned to the world. That is brave news indeed. When the Darkness gathered we feared any eggs that remained would be lost. It is good to see fresh blood among the ranks."_

Leo sat down unexpectedly on his hind legs and cocked his head to one side, eyes bright with curiosity. He bobbed his head forward again, making soft grating noises in the back of his throat, tail waving.

"And are you familiar with the Keyblade Dragon?" Yen Sid asked gravely.

"_There has not been one for many a generation. This is all I can tell you; the time is ripe for new blood and he will be but the first of the new lineage. They will always and forever be fewer in number than those of the Keyblade's calling, but the time comes soon for a return to more than a population of naught. Dragons bound to the Keyblade were almost lost to the worlds forever, and it gladdens me that one has now hatched. Surely now others will follow, but you need the right Key to lead the way forward."_ Bahamut raised his head and looked directly at Aqua, and Ven heard her intake of breath. _"You are truly worthy of your title, High Master, but you are not beckoned to the Dragons' Call, or the Dragons' Blade. That alone is for your Apprentice to find and keep. She needs guidance to take her to the place in body, mind and heart where she will be able to take what has been rightfully hers since birth."_ Here, Bahamut turned to Mel, and Ven thought for a moment she really would faint. He moved on and stared directly at Sora, who nearly dropped the crystal Yen Sid had handed back to him with alarm. _"You are the boy the Stars speak of, soon to be a man if not already. My advice to you would be, to stay – just as you are. There you are of the greatest benefit to your friends and of the greatest hindrance to your foes. Much has rested on your shoulders and still much does; you will be called upon when the time is right, else much that was to be regained shall be lost, perhaps forever. But,"_ he raised his head, as if tilting his chin, and Ven could sworn he was something like a playful light playing in his rather small, shadowed eyes that were impossible to discern the colour of from this distance. _"A sense of decorum when the occasion calls would not go amiss, young Keyblade Master."_

They all stood or sat in silence for a moment, absorbing what was said to them.

"_I see there is much to think and discuss between you. I shall retire now. When you are ready, summon us forth. We are at your beck and call for counsel, protection and for battle as and when needed. Until then, Farewell, Children of the Keyblade."_

Bahamut unfolded his arms, and tensed his body for a moment. A circle of light danced on the ground about his feet, that flared so brightly Ven had to raised his hands to shield his eyes. The great upright dragon jumped and launched himself into the air, circling upwards towards a pinpoint of light that engulfed him. A strong wind followed that ruffled their hair and clothes, and Leo bounded to the place where he had stood and sat back on his haunches, reaching up after him as if to follow. The purple crystal in Sora's hands shone with a light of its own as Bahamut disappeared into the sky, and then lay still and shadowed again.

"_Whoa_…" he and Riku gaped at it, and then at each other.

"That's…" Rhiannon's eyes were uncharacteristically wide.

"Well," Lynn made a show of nonchalance, clapping Terra on the back and mussing up Mel's hair. "I dunno 'bout you lads, but my mind has just been blown to smithereens. Fancy a gin, anyone?"

Aqua smiled with disbelief; a bit of a sad smile really, Ven thought as he edged towards her. "Another thing to add to the list."

"Melody." Yen Sid said, voice still grave.

Mel had sunk to the steps and sat down, and gazed at them all as if she didn't quite believe what she saw before her. She stood up surprisingly calmly, and took a few steps towards Yen Sid; he handed the box to Aqua for safekeeping and extended his hands to Mel.

"Had I known you had your grandfather's knack of attracting such attention to yourself, I doubt I would have been any less surprised."

She just stared back at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"He must have known when he instructed you, that you were marked for a higher purpose."

"I'm sorry…" Mel squeaked, starting to tremble.

"Whatever for?"

Ven leapt up and crossed over to her, just before her tenuous grip on control slid.

"_If I'd known it was a Scion of Light I wouldn't have used that crystal as a paperweight!_" Mel stipulated with near terror in her voice.

By that point Ven had reached her, and pulled her into a hug, just as Terra and Aqua moved to join them. Leo barged his way past, nearly knocking the old Master off his feet in his haste. Mel was cocooned in the middle of the huddle, still trembling and weakly pleading her ignorance.

Ven looked up in time to see Riku and Sora exchange looks, and grin at each other.

"Ice cream?" he asked hopefully, and Riku nodded, before they both ran up the stairs, leaving Kairi behind.

"Here, flower," Rhiannon said.

"Bloody hell!" Lynn took the flask from her. "Actual gin?" she sniffed at it expertly before standing and offering it to Aqua with a flourish. "Milady,"

Aqua stared at her blankly for a moment before she laughed and took the offered hip flask.

"I fancy a _real _ale." Lynn said, rubbing her hands together and stretching her arms as if to dispel an ache. She turned to Lea and said, "How many can you sneak past Rinoa?"

Lea flashed her a smirk and said, "Enough."

"No booze up." Aqua said flatly, rubbing Mel's back soothingly as she struggled to speak coherently.

XOXOX


	22. And So The Pieces

**AN: …I do apologise for the appalling lateness of this update xD I was rather unwell for a while, and then I got better, and also side tracked, so I didn't spend a lot of time on this with any sense of diligence. But it's here now and that's what matters xD I'm still not entirely certain I am fully satisfied with it, but I didn't think it totally deserved tearing down and starting again.**

**As ever, please leave me a review and let me know what you thought :) free virtual chocolate chip cookies to all reviewers! ;)**

_**And So The Pieces…**_

Maleficent had to admit that for once, Pete had done some good work.

She had been perusing the book they had liberated since it had been handed to her, and what she read she found truly fascinating. There was little chance that they could out manoeuvre her once she had read about all the aerial tactics – the dragon's defeat in battle was all but assured now. The other artefacts she wasn't entirely sure what to do with; sentimental drivel collected and kept for the sake of childish memories. Although the baby teeth may have some use, the ones that had not cracked at any rate. The feathers from the box had been tatty and not worth much, but they gave an idea of what the living, breathing specimen possessed.

"Well?" Pete demanded, striding into the room as Maleficent turned another page. "Waddaya think?"

"For once you have done well, Pete." She admitted coolly, scanning down a page that stated the dimensions required for a dragon to be considered at a particular stage in development. The wretched Keyblade Wielders dragon was most definitely adolescent, at the very least. He may be full-grown before long – it stated this was usually accomplished by the end of their first year, and he was certainly growing.

"See?" Pete was overly proud of himself.

Tomasa had done most of the work, though he spoke very little of that day. He had tried to be considerate of his cousin's possessions, but after the fiasco at the Coliseum their new _comrade_ had stopped by to help spread the Darkness a little more thickly, and he had taken it upon himself to damage as many of her things as he could. He was enraged that such a young girl – of all beings! he had shouted and raged when he returned – had managed to thwart him and his prowess over the creatures of Darkness. His anger and rage was fuelled by a deeper fear, and Maleficent had turned a blind eye to his actions when Tomasa violently protested against it.

If this young woman could counter the most devastating of Heartless – all by herself without the aid of others summoning the same protective charm – what else did she have hidden up her sleeve? Not that Maleficent cared what befell the wretched girl's belongings, but she did take exception to the reaction it caused in Tomasa.

The silly boy was deathly afraid of them, which was hardly surprising and impossible to hide completely, but he made a huge fuss over the issue and argued that their companion had had no right to do such things. As long as the woman was kept at an optimum disadvantage it didn't matter to Maleficent, but Tomasa's morale and willingness to help and take part was an asset she wasn't willing to lose just yet. She had spoken to him and placated his anger, and she was dissatisfied that when she used the hanging threat of harming his family if he didn't buck up and behave as he was told, his anger still won out over his fear.

"Come, Pete." Maleficent said eventually, setting the book aside while all these thoughts and more swum round her head. "There is much to plan if we are to succeed in catching this dragon."

Pete gave her a quizzical look, but followed in silence – _thankfully_.

Maleficent waved a hand over the surface of the table and an image appeared, flickering before them. The black dragon was curled up on the ground, nose and tail tucked in but eyes wide open and watching what was going on around him. Several of the adult Keyblade Wielders stood in a semi circle, talking with serious expressions while Sora and Riku with Ventus a few steps behind ran in and out of the image, chasing each other and the three animals that shone with a pulsing Light, even through the distorted colours of the image. Terra stood to one side, dark and brooding over something while the youngsters fell about with silent laughter. The dragon unfurled its thick neck and leant over to the man, rubbing itself along his back so Terra had to relent and look over his shoulder with a smile as the dragon licked his cheek and got to its feet – he positively towered over the people convened there.

"The dragon is much larger than before, when this plan was first conceived. And even if we know their tactics, it will still be difficult to catch the beast. He is always surrounded by people who will jump to his defence the moment it seems apparent that he is being targeted. We will need a plan…"

Pete frowned and she arched an eyebrow at him imperiously. "Don't think Tomasa's gonna be very happy or willin' to help out on this one."

"Oh, I don't think that will be a problem." Maleficent had already thought about that. Tomasa needn't be there when the dragon was apprehended, and the way he was going before long he would be refusing to go along with their plans full stop. Someone would have to look after the dragon when he was brought in, and Tomasa would be made his keeper. It seemed the perfect solution.

"I want that dragon watched closely, and the moment he is left open and vulnerable, I want him brought back here – alive and unharmed. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" Pete saluted, brow creased with concentration.

Maleficent fought not to roll her eyes. "And now, we must turn our attention to another thorn in our side." She waved a hand over the table and the image changed to show a birds eye view of Radiant Garden. "I think Tomasa will be a valuable asset in this endeavour. His magic abilities are already potent."

Pete looked mystified. He scratched his head and said, "I don't follow."

"Not entirely surprisingly." She sniffed. "I have a little _surprise_ for them,"

Maleficent looked up as Tomasa walked into the room. Any fear he felt was carefully masked, and his demeanour was rather arrogant and defiant.

"What?" he snapped.

Maleficent smiled at him, and felt a small twinge of annoyance when he didn't cower, or show any outward sign of concern.

"I have a job for you, my dear. One I can entrust only to you."

"Oh?" Tomasa raised his chin and narrowed his eyes.

"It requires a certain…_finesse_. I cannot trust anyone else to do it." She gave Pete a withering look, and he blanched.

Tomasa didn't look convinced.

"I wish you to go to Radiant Garden for me."

"And?"

"A certain group of individuals are interfering with our plans. That is why I require your help."

Tomasa seemed to loosen up ever so slightly.

"It does not concern your cousins." She said gently, and he began to visibly relax.

"So what is it?"

"A few details need seeing to first. I will fully inform you when the time is right."

Pete looked baffled by something, and she ignored him during the exchange until Tomasa left. The boy shot her a look over his shoulder, expression guarded, and then he slid out of sight. Pete opened his mouth and stood for a moment, gaping like a fish.

"And _what_ is it this time?" she snapped impatiently.

"Errr," he scratched his head. "But isn't his cousin livin' in Hollo-?"

"_Silence_ you imbecile!" she commanded.

The last thing she needed was for Tomasa to have another reason to consider rebellion.

XOXOX

"Everything's in place," Aqua said, mostly to herself as they walked down the corridor to the dorms. "The castle _should_ be safe while we're gone. And you all know what you're doing tomorrow?" she asked.

"_Yes_." Ven snapped, tired of hearing it over and over. Terra smiled and ruffled his hair condescendingly before the younger man stalked off to his room and slammed the door shut.

"It'll be fine Aqua," Mel said soothingly, sounding more like her usual self again. "I'm sure of it. We all know where everyone else is supposed to be, and at what time we're supposed to be there. We'll be together with Leo, and Ven will be watching Sora and the others. The Pride Lands aren't _especially_ dangerous, and I know Simba will look after them. You shouldn't worry yourself so much." Aqua looked at her as if she desperately wanted to believe her. "If nothing else you'll get premature wrinkles,"

Terra burst out laughing, and tried to stifle them as he received a withering look from Aqua and a smooth expressionless one from Mel. He really shouldn't laugh, but Terra found that in the wake of his recent brooding he was laughing more easily at silly things he really shouldn't.

"Go get some sleep. It will be fine tomorrow." Mel squeezed her hands before she went to her own room and quietly closed the door.

"All right?" Terra asked, putting an arm around Aqua's shoulders.

"Argh…" she rubbed her temples.

"You know, Mel's right. You shouldn't worry so much."

"Between you and Ventus," she rounded on him with a glower, waving a finger in his face. "I think I worry _just_ the right amount!" she stomped into her room, but didn't close the door, so he followed her inside.

Aqua's room was clean and tidy, but it felt a lot bearer than it had before. Leviathan's crystal lay on the desk surrounded by a ring of other, smaller crystals, waiting for tomorrow. Most of the knick knacks she owned had been either repaired or were still in a box under the bed waiting for a decision on their fate; the curtains had been changed, and the glass candle holders had been pieced together with Lynn's so called 'super-duper-giga-mega-_trigger_' glue she had leant them. Only the merest of veins was visible in the glass from a distance where they had been broken, and were only really noticeable when you were really looking. He walked over to the windowsill while Aqua rechecked her bag again, and plucked the one in the middle from its resting place. The blue and purple of the glass hid the facture held together by the binding agent, but the white sections of the glass showed up with a thin black line. It would never be completely the same again.

Terra put the glass down as a wave of emotion crashed over him, and he feared he would drop it by accident and this time it would be beyond hope of salvaging. He'd felt frustrated when he was the second to last to summon his Eidolon, and though he was happy when he finally managed it, and overwhelmed by finding the strong, solid bear that seemed to follow and look out for all the other Eidolons as they ambled around the hall together, he was still annoyed with himself. Finding a Scion that would accept him and that he could competently summon was another irritation; he knew it shouldn't bother him, but it made him feel so wholly inadequate…

"Terra?" he jumped when he felt Aqua's warm hand against his arm, and shied away from her gaze. "What's wrong?" when he didn't say anything she put her arms around his neck and held him, and he felt himself relax automatically in her embrace. He loved the smell of her skin – it was as deeply engrained into him as anything else from his childhood. It was a scent he associated with warmth and comfort, even if many memories were linked to fierce and explosive arguments that Master Eraqus had had to marshal into order. "You know you can tell me."

What could he say? Terra didn't want to admit this latest weakness out loud, but her hands making soothing circles against his back seemed to coax the truth from him. It was a wrench to admit to his biggest rival how he was feeling, but he knew deep down she wouldn't exploit his weakness right now.

"I just…feel useless." He said in a strangled voice.

"And why would you ever feel like that?" she asked gently, her nose pressed against the crook of his neck.

"Because," dammit, she was too distracting! His collected thoughts started to scatter like sheep in a forest. He raised his hands, one against her shoulder blades, the other cupping the back of her head. "Everything we've been learning about recently, I just suck at." he said, trying not to sound like a petulant child.

"Terra," she said, stroking his hair. "Not everyone got it first time round. Look at Riku!" He had, in a moment of sheer frustration and after being goaded into it by his best friend's cuttingly snide remarks, hurled his Keyblade at Sora in retaliation to his quips about the older boy's failure to get the Scions to cooperate with him. Aqua had soundly scolded the pair of them for it. "And anyway," she went on, leaning back and trying to catch Terra's eye, but he stared resolutely at the floor. "Does it really matter?"

He chanced a glance up at her and had to look away, tears springing unexpectedly in his eyes. "I don't like feeling like I'm useless."

"Well, that's good, because you're _not_ useless." She said firmly, trying to tilt his face towards her so she could look him in the eye.

"How can I protect you if I can't even keep up with all the new stuff we're learning? I can't-" he gulped. He couldn't sit back and watch them get… No, he shouldn't follow that thought through.

"Terra," Aqua bit her lip, and his gaze was drawn to the motion. No, this was a heartfelt bearing of souls – he wouldn't be distracted by… Now was _not_ the time for such thoughts! "You don't have to…" she was just as lost for words as he was. Were her thoughts as jumbled together as his? "It's not just _your_ responsibility to look after everyone. It's all of us together. And you're anything but useless to us." He grudgingly met her gaze and flinched from the contact. "Terra, please!" she said, still soft but also pleading, desperate even. "Don't get caught up in chasing for power. It doesn't matter if you don't end up as good at summoning as the rest of us – you're already a really good fighter, a competent mage, and an amazing cook!" Now she was just looking for excuses. Terra wanted to laugh. "I…I don't…" she bit her lip but didn't look away, and he forced himself to meet and keep that gaze. His heart clenched when he saw tears of her own forming, swimming in her oh so very blue eyes. "I don't want to lose you to the Darkness again. And I'm paranoid that if you let this really get to you then you might start…" she looked scared, as if she feared he had been offended. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said…Oh!" she covered her face with her hands. "I just make everything worse!"

"That's a lie, and you know it," he said firmly, taking her in his arms and just holding her. "And you're probably right. I just…hate feeling like there's nothing I can do to help."

"You do help. Trust me," she murmured against his shoulder. "I just don't want to let you go…not again."

Terra squeezed his eyes shut tight, trying to forget the images the Night Ghast had forced him to see – everything he loved and cherished in life lost, broken, beyond all hope of recovery.

"I promise, I'll try. For you. I couldn't live with myself, if anything happened to…"

"Sssh." She leaned back, and a single tear slid down her cheek.

Why? Why couldn't he look at her properly? All Terra could see before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen; her eyes were so deep with emotion, her lips curved so invitingly, the places where their skin touched were crackling with electricity, and his body cried out to touch more of her. Aqua didn't deserve to be viewed like this, like an object on display. And yet…

Oh, by the Light! He wanted her.

Terra was prepared to give up and go to his room, try to deal with his deep feelings of love and inadequacy, but her hands on his face stilled him, and any thoughts of walking away just caved in. There was an agonisingly long moment as they gazed into each other's eyes, each seeing deeply the worry and pain the other was feeling, as well as love and affection they bore for each other.

And then Aqua's lips pressed against his, and he lost his self-control.

It registered dimly that he should be letting her go to bed early, that they needed to sleep, and that the last thing they needed was something to complicate matters – and he couldn't find it in him to care when he felt every line of her body against his. Fingers twined in his hair, her tongue against his – oh gods above, he loved her so much.

Exactly when and how it happened, Terra wasn't sure, but he knew that one moment he was standing and the next lying on the bed, with Aqua splayed out on his chest. And he still didn't care. He just wanted this feeling, of being with her, to last forever. His hands were on her hips, her own tangled in his hair, when she whimpered as his teeth scraped across her lower lip. Did he like those noises for all the wrong reasons? Because it was her body betraying her, how she felt, and Terra strove to unhinge her just as surely as she unbalanced him.

"How?" she breathed, looking down at him, panting so delicately. "How do you do it?"

"What?" he asked, kissing her throat, tilting her head to give him the best angle of attack.

"Make me-" she bit her lip and shivered as he ran a finger along her spine. "That!" she gasped. "I can't – even _think_ straight. How-?"

Terra sighed and relented, tangled in a web of thoughts he didn't want to face right now. He cringed at her dissatisfied whimper, and tried to avoid her gaze as she leant down to look him dead in the eye.

"Why did you stop?"

"I…" he closed his eyes and worked them furiously with his knuckles. "I'm sorry…"

"Why?"

"I feel like…" he wanted to burst into tears – very demeaning and unmanly, and totally unfair on Aqua. "I don't want to play power games with you."

"You're not." She blinked with surprise. "Why would you think that?"

"Because…I enjoy seeing you like that. That I can make you like that." He couldn't believe he was admitting it to her. She'd probably hate him for it. So it surprised him greatly when she gave him a sultry smile and raked her teeth across his jaw.

"I'm not sorry."

"W-what?" he was dazed, lost in the sensation.

"You know, some people like being dominated from time to time. Besides, I get a kick out of this, too." Her hands wandered across his chest, before meandering downward as her mouth worked on his throat.

The gasp she elicited from him was so undignified, it didn't sound like his voice at all.

"See?" she murmured while his scattered wits tried to pull themselves together. "And I don't feel bad about it at all."

"Y-you're evil," he breathed, struggling to stay on top of the situation.

"And don't you just love it?" she teased, against his ear.

Terra swore quietly under his breath.

"You're thinking way too much, which is weird for you,"

He managed to give her a glower, that probably didn't come across at all the way he wanted.

"Shut up."

"Well," Aqua checked the time and bit her lip again, looking disappointed. "I guess we need to think about sleep now."

Terra couldn't believe it when she made to get up. His temper flared and he grabbed her wrists, deftly flipping her over and pinning her body to the bed, staring down into her wide eyes.

"I don't think so." He growled softly, enjoying her startled expression. "You started this. You don't just turn someone on and them leave them hanging. That's _impolite_."

"H-hypocrite." She murmured, succumbing to her desire. "I just meant – that…"

"What?" he challenged. If she, as High Master, could have no qualms about domination, then why should he?

"Sleep. We need to…tomorrow we're…" she fell silent as he kissed her mouth.

"I need you, right now." Terra surrendered. He had surrendered from the moment they had first kissed. If she really insisted they stop, he knew he would comply, but he would not be happy about it.

"Well, I _was _trying to be sensible." She huffed. "_Some_one has to be."

"And what do you say, _Master_?"

There was a pause before Aqua muttered, "Screw it," and pulled him down for another kiss. After a few wonderful moments he felt her push against him, and let her roll him onto his back before resealing their lips.

"You know," she murmured as he reached for the laces of her top. "It's sweet you stop and think about these things, but…if I think you're being…over bearing…or…w-whatever, I _would_ tell you."

"Yeah," Terra frowned as the knots defeated him. "I just…"

"Think too much. Like I said – weird, for you."

"Watch it," he snarled, picking at the knots uselessly.

"Should I be scared?" Aqua taunted, and gasped as his hands jumped to her thighs and he gazed into her eyes intensely; was it so wrong that he liked the shape her mouth made when she gasped like that?

"Very."

XOXOX

"Is it done yet?" Joey asked, clanging several pieces of metal together on the workbench.

"Gimme a sec," Lynn said distractedly, hammering away at the laptop set up on the desk before her. "The computer took offence to my total disregard of proper spelling and Tron's trying to fix the mess I just made."

"Wow Lynn, you really suck at spelling." Kyo said conversationally, draped over her shoulder as he stared at the screen. "I'd do it for you but I suck at computers unless it's a spreadsheet. I like maths." He added as an after thought.

"I do have a legit reason for being such a disgrace to the literary world," she said vaguely, tabbing through several running programs to check their progress. There was a curved earpiece mounted to the side of her head so she could speak directly to Tron without causing too much noise for everyone else around. It had been a good idea, although no one else could hear him at the moment unless she switched the frequency to blare through the speakers in the laptop.

"At least you're not as bad as Joey," Ashy said teasingly.

The boy looked highly offended before turning his nose in the air and burying himself in the contraption that was slowly coming together in his hands.

"Trust me sweetpea, you 'ent missin' a whole lot." Lynn said evenly, readjusting the earpiece. "Christ! I can't even type properly. Sorry mate, I should have my hands cut off for this drivel,"

"Sure he won't hold it against you, pet." Rhiannon said dully. She had taken it upon herself to readjust Lynn's arrow stock and sharpen a few arrow heads while her friend ploughed through the computer system writing new program codes.

Ansem was quite impressed by the way the Nobody interacted with the youngsters; it had started with Kyo pestering Lynn, and then the other two were dragged into it, and then they were all up to their elbows in the camera trap project. Joey was very badly dyslexic, to the point where he was barely able to write his own name; he was forever been in trouble at school for skipping lessons and hanging out with a bad crowd, so he had been moved to work with Cid because when it came to machines he was a pure genius. Lynn was only slightly dyslexic herself, and with Tron following her progress across the computer system and wider network the damage from her atrocious spelling was minimal.

To put the new plan for a resonating force field to protect the cameras from being damaged required both specific hardware, which Joey could build without a problem, and software, which Lynn was just about competent enough to write unaided. She had pulled a face when Ansem had asked and said, "I don't like academics, that's why I chose a mostly field based course when I decided to go to Uni. But I had to retune my laptop several billion times because my flatmate managed to riddle it with viruses every time he 'borrowed' it. My programming skills are _passable_, if that – just to forewarn you."

The children seemed drawn to her, and Kyo was probably taking his cues from Mel who was warm and friendly to Lynn. In return, Lynn put up with their antics and actively encouraged all manner of positive endeavours on their part. Cid had remarked gruffly to Leon while Ansem was present that he was surprised and pleased with the difference he had seen in Joey recently; he wasn't skipping his lessons with Cid, and was almost always easy to locate these days – namely somewhere in Kyo's vicinity. Since Lynn was buried into the project at hand it was even easier to find Joey since they all worked on it together in close proximity.

"And you tink this'll work this time around, flower?" Rhiannon asked, running a whetstone across the blade of a particularly fine arrow, cut with lines and markings, and fletched with white feathers for balance.

"Only one way to find out. Jo-jo, c'mere and have a listen," she stuck the earpiece to him as he rushed over and she typed a command into the computer. "What you reckon?" she said, leaning back in her seat and handing the decision over to him.

Joey frowned at the screen, making sense more from the visual display of the sound byte than the diagnostic words written down the side of the panel.

"A bit lower, and it needs to be a longer sound at the end, there," he pointed at the place on the diagram. "And it needs to be louder in the middle to match the frequency."

"Kyo, you got the latest diagnostic report?"

"Huh?" Kyo had been staring out of the window. "Err, yeah! Hang on," he scrabbled around in a sea of paper before he thrust the sheets into her hands. "Found them!"

"Woot," Lynn licked her finger and thumbed through them. "So it's _these _sections here that need tweaking?" she clarified, showing the two boys with a pencil on a chart printed on one of the papers near the top of the pile.

"Yeah, and maybe that bit just to be sure?" Joey said, pointing it out.

"Kay. Kyo, get that brain moving for me and tell me what the values are for those two."

"I don't know how he does it," Ashy said, watching in amazement as Kyo did the equations in his head without working it out on paper or using a calculator.

"Cause he's a freak?" Joey said teasingly, and laughed at Kyo's rather scornful and dignified expression.

"My sister says that being a freak is a _good_ thing." He said, drawing himself up to his fullest and most considerable height.

"Here here!" Lynn thumped the table with her fist. "Hop to it Sparky, we're almost done here! Then we can go for ice cream,"

"Yeah!" Kyo whooped, then quoted the figures he had worked out for her.

Half an hour later the three teens left the lab, grinning from ear to ear with the accomplishment of their work. Rhiannon helped Lynn to tidy up the notes and spare parts that hadn't been used, as well as piece the new equipment together.

"And that'll surely work?" the older woman demanded.

Lynn wiped some imaginary dust from the surface of the box. "Well there's no reason why it shouldn't, but I think a pilot would be in order just to make sure. I mean, the forecast doesn't look especially good for the weekend and I question just how waterproof this thing is after Joey's taken it to pieces and reordered everything. Wrapping it in canvas won't exactly help with the whole camo effect."

"Well, you've both been a great help." Ansem said as they lugged the new and hopefully improved camera out of the room. "I'm sure Leon can find someone to install it for us, you deserve a break."

"Nah, I'll do it." Lynn frowned down the lens "This make of camera can be a real bastard to focus properly, and I know how to work around the modifications that've been made on top of the original crappy system."

"Wouldn't want a blurred picture after all this trouble," Rhiannon laughed heartily.

"Well, we got the infrared and thermal images, so I guess that won't be much of a problem. Its just the feckin' adjustment system that's being so irritatin',"

"Fancy an ice cream when we get this bast'ad up and runnin'?" Rhiannon said as they walked down the corridor together.

Lynn stopped in her tracks to look at her, an odd expression on her face. It were as if she was feeling confused, nostalgic, happy and sad all at once.

"Wanna go fish'n'chips?" Rhiannon suggested in a monotone at the look she was given.

Lynn's smile was lopsided. "Yeah, sounds epic." She said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. She turned and they continued down the corridor. "Catch y'later!" she called to Ansem, waving a hand above her head.

He smiled at their retreating backs and went back into the room that had just been vacated. As he shuffled through the papers that had been left scattered across the work surface there was a knock at the door, and Ansem looked up to see Leon stood on the threshold.

"Can I help?" he asked pleasantly, still pleased with all the progress he had seen being made over the last few days.

Leon looked a bit grim, but he smiled sincerely as he came further into the room. "You wanted to hear the verdict."

Ansem set the papers aside and stood up straight. "And?"

There was a rather dramatic pause before Leon unfolded his arms and withdrew a piece of paper from his pocket. He carefully unfolded it and held it up to read, then set it down with a look of weary disgust.

"Is something the matter?"

"Yuffie is _never_ going to be in charge of this again." Leon muttered to himself, thrusting the piece of paper at Ansem.

In Yuffie's familiar handwriting were the words: '_YES_ _dammit!_'

"I take it that means the Committee as a whole approve of Lynn's presence?" Ansem said, hiding a smile at the young woman's antics.

"Cid won't stop raving about her." Leon folded his arms again, and smirked. "Seems Joey's been behaving himself more since she dragged him onto this camera project. Cid's grateful for that, it makes his life a lot easier when he's not running around. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have another Keyblade around."

Ansem considered this for a while after Leon left.

Yes, that was entirely true, although her continued campaign to not use the weapon that had chosen her was received with mixed feelings on all sides. After having sat back to really watch and take stock, it had become apparent to Ansem that Lynn was a good, honest person – if rather loud and prone to obnoxiousness. He took her choices as a sign that she had really thought about the implications of a Nobody wielding a Keyblade, and despite her childish outbursts and rather unruly behaviour for the most part, it demonstrated a certain level of deep maturity. And even if she was brash, she genuinely seemed to be a good role model to the youngsters; arguments were always sound and backed up properly, not plucked out of thin air, she merely had a more aggressive debating strategy – she could make a solid statement and defend it.

Ansem jumped slightly when he heard a clatter and looked up to see Lea sauntering into the room. "Wassup?" he asked idly, flicking through some of the papers Lynn had left behind.

"A great many things. The sky, for one." Ansem answered with amusement. "What brings you here?"

"Mel asked me about lock picking. I was wondering if I could get my hands on some tools."

"What for?"

"Some box Lynn apparently gave her that she desperately wants to get into. Do you need this?" he held a pair of broken tools aloft that Joey had set aside for proper disposal later. With a bit of flexing and reshaping they could possibly be turned into lock picks.

"I dare say they won't be missed."

"Thanks," Lea pocketed it. "They about done with this flashy box of theirs? Some of the Committee are getting pretty cranky about the delays to the project."

"Lynn and Rhiannon are to set up for a trial run today to make sure the new cameras work." Ansem frowned slightly to himself. "Hopefully we will soon be able to determine what these creatures are."

"Here's hopin'." Lea said dully. "Well, I'm off. Promised I'd keep that Nobody in line on patrol today. So long," he sauntered back out of the room, waving an arm in a similar gesture to Lynn's earlier.

Lea's words had Ansem thinking long and deep for most of the day; Kyo was busy running back and forth, 'being a scientist' as he put it, to really notice, so his thoughts were mostly undisturbed.

Lynn had given Mel a box. Kyo had said something about that before. And she couldn't get inside it without assistance…

Ansem had a feeling both women were very important in their own ways to some cause he could not quite see or comprehend at present. It gave him a familiar uneasy sensation in his gut that he had hoped he would never have to feel again. As he sat lost in his own thoughts, Kyo raced by, lost in his own work; it was currently his own personal project, to create a special paint that could weather anything from rainwater to highly concentrated acid – Joey was working on what would hopefully one day be a gummi ship, and he wanted a particular coating with certain properties. Kyo would do the complicated chemistry, Ashy would help with the colour, and they would all paint it on together when it was finished. They even had a design picked out and ready for when the paint was made.

Whatever lay ahead, Ansem hoped it wouldn't affect them. He could still remember very clearly something Aqua had once said, in the depths of the Darkness: '_I'd never wish our lives on anyone. The Keyblade can be very demanding… It affects everything._'

Kyo's sister wielded the weapon herself, as well as the loyalty of a dragon that had stirred the ranks of the warriors up something fierce. And a Keyblade wielding Nobody had handed her a box she wanted to open. The poor boy, he thought to himself with dismay. Kyo could get caught in the crossfire.

Ansem stirred from his revery as Kyo plucked at his sleeve and started asking about the relative merits between enamel and oil based paints. As they puzzled over the problem together, Ansem came to a conclusion – he would do whatever he could to protect Kyo. Mel had entrusted him with her brother's care, and he would ensure the boy remained safe, whatever lay ahead of them.

XOXOX

"Ready?" Sora grinned, leaning forward eagerly as Ven ran towards him.

"Ready!" Ven pumped his fist in the air.

"All right!" Sora bounced on the spot. "Let's go!" he spun on his heel and ran up the gangplank of the gummi ship, Ven right behind him.

Ven stopped only briefly to turn and wave at Aqua, and Sora leaned dramatically around him with a grin and also waved.

"See ya later Aqua!" they both chorused before they skipped off happily together.

"Bye." Aqua said dully to the air. She turned and caught Terra's eye, and they both smiled.

"Well he wouldn't be Ven if he wasn't so hyper." Terra said sagely.

"I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." Mel said gently, head cocked to one side as she walked past. "Shame."

Leo snorted with disgust and sauntered off, then caught a scent of something before scuttling off to find it. Mel looked panic stricken for a moment and lurched after him; she managed to run pretty fast the first few yards, but as Leo whipped out of sight she started lagging. Her forte was long distance running they had discovered, but even then she didn't have the physical build to put on that last winning burst of speed at the end, even if she actually had the energy for it. Terra gave Aqua a meaningful look before dashing off after them. While she waited for them to return, Kairi came past and struck up a conversation until Riku went running past with his arms held out the way Sora sometimes did when he was clowning around.

"Road trip!" he whooped happily before dashing into the gummi ship.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "I guess this means I'd better get going," she sighed, and laughed happily when Aqua grabbed her in a one armed hug.

"Be careful, and keep the boys in line. Watch yourselves out there,"

"Oh, I'll _try_," Kairi promised, exasperated.

Ven came running back as she was making her way up the gangplank – he had left his munny pouch behind.

"Sorry!" he said loudly as he scrambled to find it.

"Ven," Aqua said, but he cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah – I'm an idiot, what's new?"

"Ven-"

"Hey, _there_ it is!"

"Ventus!"

Ven was on his knees on the ground, holding the pouch aloft victoriously. "Yeah?" he asked, leaning to one side and giving her his best dazed look.

Aqua smiled tiredly and shook her head, a hand cupping her cheek.

"What?" Ven snapped, jumping to his feet and dusting himself down.

"I'm counting on you to look after them," she said gently, brushing dust from his shoulder for him. "So be responsible for me, okay?"

"Yeah, I know." He looked bored. "You don't have to keep telling me over and over, you sound like a parrot! Ouch!" he winced as she tweaked his ear.

"Ventus." She snapped.

"All right, all right!" he whined, struggling against her. "I'll keep an eye out for'em and make sure they're safe – lemme go!"

Aqua laughed at his reaction, feeling more light hearted. "Make sure you do."

"What about you?" he asked, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair to fix the mess she had made. "You'd better take it easy – you look really tired."

Aqua stopped in her tracks, wide eyed. "I- I do?"

"Yeah," he looked at her in earnest, not a drop of guile in his expression as he drew a line across his face and said, "You got bags under your eyes. Were you up all night reading or something?"

Aqua was intensely grateful that Leo trundled in at that precise moment to save her the embarrassment of having to explain why her face was suddenly red. She hadn't been up all night reading, but she _had_ been up at least part of the night. She couldn't bear the thought of what Ven would say if he knew what exactly she had been doing…

"Hey Leo!"

Leo scuttled over and dropped a white Styrofoam box on the ground proudly before he started gorging himself. Terra appeared with Mel, Lynn and Rhiannon following while Lea brought up the rear, all laughing.

"Fine!" Rhiannon said, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I didn't want the damn ting anyway!"

"Ha!" Lynn pointed and laughed before she stuffed another chip into her mouth. "Oi!"

"I'm still hungry, pet."

"My chip!" Lynn whined, and then turned on Terra as he attempted to steal one from her box. "Piss off!" she spat, lashing out at him with an exceedingly long leg. She didn't have the musculature to deal a devastating blow, but she had a long reach and the momentum of the strike added to its force. "Get your own bloody chips!"

Leo was polishing off the last of the food in the packet when they convened together in the square. He looked quite pleased with himself, though he drooped at Mel's disapproval.

"Stealing food from people isn't very nice." She said sternly to him and he flinched, trying to look as small and pathetic as he possibly could to win favour again. It never worked on Mel, but he tried anyway. "You wouldn't want us to do it to you."

"I tink I'll live pet," Rhiannon put in, but she shook her head.

"Leo has to learn." She said firmly.

Terra reached again for Lynn's food and she slammed the lid shut. "Try that again and I'll have no qualms about gutting you like this fish. Y'get me?"

Terra smiled slyly and said, "Yeah, I get it," and when she turned her back on him started sneaking up on her.

"You still enforcing a no Keyblade policy on yourself?" Lea asked mockingly, eyes bright with humour.

"I have decided in the interests of peace my Keyblade shall remain unmaterialised unless in the case of dire emergency." She said pompously, ignoring Rhiannon's exaggerated pantomime behind her shoulder.

Terra dived for her food and almost had it, but Lynn moved like lightning and thrust it away into Rhiannon's hands just as she turned on Terra. "Y'know what? Screw that policy!" she sank into a fighting stance but didn't summon her weapon. Terra turned tail and ran as the magic energy prickled the air around her, and she gave chase with alarming speed. "Shove it right up your-!" she yelled.

"Evie!" Rhiannon shouted over her.

Lynn turned to her, ire in her eyes as Terra escaped, cackling. "I told ya once I told ya a million bleedin' times!" she yelled at Rhiannon. "It's-!" she didn't get to say what 'it' was, because Terra came back and pounced on her. "Gah!"

They tussled for a bit, and to his humiliation Terra ended up on his knees with his arm twisted painfully behind his back, Lynn squatting beside him with a ruthlessly iron grip. Aqua was impressed; she had thought Lynn rather weak in comparison, which she was, but she had used her abnormally long reach and her agility to sneak past Terra's solid, heavy guard and incapacitated him with pressure points and a series of quick, decisive blows to the face that had distracted his attention.

"Yeah, mate." She said, grinning as she bore down on him so he snarled with suppressed pain. "'Ent so tough now are we, Muscles?"

Ven laughed and looked up when he heard Sora calling for him.

"See you later, guys!" he called, grinning at Terra. "You be good now, y'hear?"

"And you _behave_!" Aqua shouted at Ven's retreating back as he ran to the ship.

Sora waved merrily, and then the hatch was shut. Lynn had let Terra go and he slunk off to lick his wounded pride as the ship took off and disappeared into the clear blue sky.

"So, how about you guys? Jetting off somewhere nice?" Lea asked Mel as Aqua went to follow Terra.

"I'm _fine_," he snapped at her angrily, turning aside.

"Don't take it out on me," she said coolly, and he instantly deflated. "Well you were trying to steal from her, it's hardly surprising."

Terra glowered at the low wall before him, saying nothing.

"Come on, let's get going."

"Leo," Mel said calmly, and the dragon flowed to her side in one lithe movement. "Ready?" he bounced his affirmative, tail thumping against the ground animatedly.

"Bring me back a mammoth steak!" Lea shouted at them as they got ready to leave over the sound of the gummi ship taking off.

"We are _not_ hunting native species for fun." Aqua said evenly. "This is a recon mission."

"But just one mammoth steak-"

"And the wastage of the rest of the animal?" Rhiannon demanded. "Come on now, you two. Aren't ya supposed to be patrolling at the moment?"

"In like," Lynn checked her watch with a mouthful of chips. "Half an hour? Leon's hardy going to string us up for being early."

"See you later," Mel called, waving from Leo's back as he heaved himself to his feet, armour grating against itself with a loud clanging. "Can you tell Kyo I'm sorry I couldn't stop to say hi?"

"Can do," Lynn saluted, neatly snapping the box of chips shut as Lea tried to insinuate his way towards her. "_No_." she glowered into his smirk with ire in her eyes.

"Let's go," Aqua took Terra's hand and dragged him along. She looked over her shoulder and grinned when he gave her an exasperated smile.

"No rest…" he shook his head.

"Not for the wicked." Mel commented absently, picking at a link in the armour that spanned across the limb of Leo's wing and wouldn't stay in place. "That needs mending…" she murmured to herself.

Leo kept head butting and whining long and high until they both climbed up behind Mel onto his back, rather than summoning their gliders.

"All right, the lizard wins." Terra pretended to pout, and grinning when Leo puffed himself up importantly with a smug air at having attained his own way.

"I think he's a mammal, actually." Mel said softly. "He's definitely warm blooded."

"Mammals don't have feathers," Terra argued. "Hey!" he ducked as Aqua aimed another swipe at him. She couldn't see his expression through his helmet, but she guessed he was trying not to laugh. "Just saying!"

"I don't really know _what_ he is, in terms of the animal kingdom…" Mel mused.

"Dracorex?" Aqua suggested.

Leo twisted to give her what was probably a quizzical look, again hidden from her view by his armour.

"It's Latin for _Dragon King_." She explained.

"Oh no, that's definitely Bahamut." Mel said with certainty.

"Whatever. Hey, let's get going already!" Terra complained.

As Leo crouched, stretching his wings for a standing start, Aqua rolled her eyes and said, "Honestly Terra, you're as bad as Sora!"

Terra couldn't retort because a moment later Leo launched himself into the air, and they all had to hang on to him to stop the air buffeting them off.

XOXOX

"Hey, what's up?" Sora bounced over to Ven, concerned for his friend.

They had spent a while larking around, practising swordplay and scouting for Heartless with little success. Kiara was on her first real hunting expedition, and despite offers to accompany her, she had politely declined. She wanted to do it by herself, so they had hung behind and prowled around Pride Rock – in the absence of any real structure, and Aqua's directions, they had descended into orderly chaos. Kairi didn't deign to take part in their antics, and sat primly in the shade of a tree while Sora and Riku romped in the full sunlight, quickly tiring and dehydrating until Ven forced them to take a break to drink. After a rest they started again, but Ven was pacing around the brush intently, and didn't seem to notice. It wasn't until Sora caught his serious expression that he cottoned on to something not being quite right.

Ven looked at him in surprise before he sat down and stared out across the savannah.

"Nothing. I think…" he didn't sound certain.

Sora blinked and cocked his head to one side. Ven was pretty loud when Aqua was taking the lead, but when he was completely in control without her authority to fall back on, he was quite unassuming and doubtful of his own abilities. He really didn't need to be…

"What're you looking at?"

"Dunno." Ven frowned, tail flicking agitatedly. "I just feel like…I'm missing something. Something just doesn't feel right…"

Sora sat down as well, tucking his paws under and assuming a solemn expression. "Well, maybe it's the Heartless?" he suggested, flicking his ears.

"We haven't seen that many…"

"Well, we haven't been looking out _there_." Sora nodded at the wider grasslands surrounding their vantage point. "Besides, there don't seem to be too many in this world at the moment."

"But they're on the rise everywhere else, so why not here too?" Ven was clearly over thinking this.

"Gosh Ven, you sound just like Aqua," Sora began, but he was cut off with he received an almighty shove.

"Shut up!" Ven snapped, but laughed with Ven as they collapsed together in the heat of the day. "Guess I'm not as good a leader as Aqua, huh?"

"Just different." Sora shrugged. "Plus you're not fighting with Terra right now so she's not trying to bite your head off, which is what usually happens. Besides! You always do well when she's not around, remember that tournament we had at the Council?"

"Yeah," Ven gazed dreamily out across the savannah. "That was loads of fun! Miguel's such a good fighter."

"Hey!" Sora sprang to his feet and batted a paw at Ven's ear, and he flicked it with suppressed amusement. "Riku and I whooped his but!"

"Cheaters," Ven murmured under his breath.

Sora glowered for a moment before he pounced – but Ven was too quick for him. Really, the upper hand should have been Sora's since he was more used to running on four legs in this form, but Ven was a fast learner, and just a bit bigger physically which also gave him an advantage. They chased each other around the brush that surrounded Pride Rock, laughing and growling as they went. Riku heard them and came bounding over to join in – and then the upper hand was Sora's again.

They ganged up on Ven who cried, "No fair!" before beating a hasty retreat that didn't last long as Riku pounced and sunk his claws into Ven's flank. He yelped and spun around, trying to dislodge his attacker, and fell side ways as Sora ran in for the kill.

Ven landed on his back with a groan, Riku standing over his with his teeth at his throat, Sora bouncing in celebration and whooping loudly. Ven rolled his eyes and groaned out, "I'm too old for this…"

Riku cackled and jumped up to follow Sora's victory dance grinning from ear to ear. Sora beamed at him, and yelped as Riku went for him; it was all rather unexpected, so they tumbled down a small incline and scrapped with each other while Ven followed heavily in their footsteps, looking rather glum.

"Pack it in." He said listlessly as Riku raised his front paws and raked them down Sora's face with a snarl. "Guys-!" Sora retaliated with a solid kick of his hind legs into Riku's stomach and spun round to tear at his ears while his friend tried to recover his breath. "Hey, quit it-!" Riku dealt a heavy blow to the back of Sora's head, and he wandered for a moment, dazed before he tripped over a tree stump and went head first into what may have once been a stream and was now a muddy trickle.

Riku crowed his triumph, but was cut short. Sora raised his spinning head and only just managed to guess that Ven had given him a solid whack round the back of the head.

"I said _break it up_!" he snapped, stalking over and dragging Sora to his feet. "Honestly! Now I know how Aqua feels every second of every day…"

"You okay, Sora?" Riku asked brightly.

"I'm good!" Sora assured him, walking into a low growing tree and clutching at his nose. "Ouch!"

"Okay, time out. Riku!"

"I didn't do it," he said quickly.

Sora wasn't really sure what he was claiming that wasn't his doing, but the tree branch that smacked him in the face sent his mind and body reeling. When he could stand up again and walk mostly in a straight line, they started back towards the other lions, the other two either side of him so he didn't stray off course.

"It's okay, I'm fine." He insisted as Ven started to fret over him. "I get hit on the head all the time! So does Goofy, you should see him!"

"And it's _my_ hide that Aqua's gonna tan if I bring you back in a matchbox." Ven snapped, head butting him into a shaded patch of grass. "_Sit_."

"Gees," Sora sniffed, trying to affect a dignified air, but wincing in pain at his smarting nose. "He sounds just like Aqua."

"Is that a bad thing?" Riku asked, licking his paw and beginning to wash the dust from his face. "_Someone's_ gotta be responsible."

"Yeah, can't be us, right?" Sora laughed as Riku rolled his eyes. "Well, at least you're sensible sometimes."

"What do you mean _sometimes_?" Riku challenged with a sly smile.

Sora drew himself onto his feet with a grin. "Well, I mean – three coconuts wasn't exactly going to get us very far, was it?"

Riku snarled and got right up in his face, barking, "_It wasn't my idea_!"

Of course it wasn't – Kairi had been in charge of organising the food checklist, Riku had just humoured her at the time. And Sora was never going to let him forget it. Riku looked up to Terra, and it had been hilarious to see the man's reaction when he heard what they had planned at the tender age of fourteen; he said, "I thought you were more sensible than that!" Sora would never let Riku forget it.

Sure! He could over look all the other stuff with the Heartless, no problem!

But failing to point out what would have been a fatal flaw in their plans so as not to crush Kairi's heart? That was some serious shizz that needed poking fun at. Riku could talk tough all he liked – but deep inside he was a great big marshmallowy type of soft blob.

If Riku could tease him for being a goofball, then it was perfectly within Sora's rights to tease him for being a marshmallow.

As they started fighting again Ven marched up with a snarl and cuffed them both so they fell in a heap, Sora once again dazed.

"Can't I turn my back for five minutes?" he demanded, and then glowered. "Look at me! Now you're making me sound just like Aqua! Just great…"

Riku and Sora dissolved into laughter, rolling around on their backs and giggling like idiots. Sora would have continued, but Riku rolled unexpectedly onto his stomach and raised his head to sniff at the air, suddenly tense and serious. Sora flopped the right way up and looked at him, surprised.

"What's up?"

"Do you smell that?"

Ven, standing to his full height already, lifted his nose into the wind and scented the air. Before he could speak, Kairi came crashing out of the brush, tearing towards them across the uneven ground. She skidded to a halt in front of Ven, sending small stones and twigs flying and kicking up a spray of dust.

"There's a fire!" she panted, stumbling to regain her balance. "In the savannah! Kiara's out there!"

Sora didn't even think twice – he didn't need to. He was off in the direction Kairi had just come from, the direction he knew Kiara had set off in. Riku had always been the faster runner, but he wasn't as used to this form as Sora, so he took the lead as they raced across the grassland. Simba suddenly appeared from above, jumping down from a large overhanging rock, his face lined with worry.

"Sora-!"

"We know! Kairi told us," Sora explained, scrabbling to a halt and nearly falling over as Riku crashed into him, just as unbalanced.

"There are Heartless as well!"

That made Sora stop for a moment to think. He exchanged glances with Riku, and jumped as Ven bounded past with Kairi hot on his heels.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"We'd better in groups," Riku suggested quickly.

Ven considered for a moment before saying, "We'll cover more ground that way, but stay together. I don't want anyone getting lost."

"We'll go together," Sora nudged Riku's shoulder, and caught Kairi's frustrated gaze. "You'd better stick with Ven, it'll be safer."

"But-!" she began to protest.

"We'll attract less attention if we go in pairs," Ven said quickly to placate her.

Kairi grudgingly conceded, and they split up with Simba and Nala herring off in one direction. Ven and Kairi followed before they branched off to follow a river across the plains, and Sora set their course in the direction he was sure he remembered Kiara had gone.

As they progressed they found more Heartless, and the smoke from the fire drifted towards them. It made breathing difficult and stung their eyes, and in the confusion of battle Sora knocked into a low lying tree and hit his head hard, which really didn't help. He felt the air shift around him as he shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it, and looked up to find that he and Riku were surrounded by a vortex of clear air.

"Modified Aero spell," Riku grinned, and Sora grinned back.

"Awesome! Now we can breathe. C'mon! We should be able to see better now too,"

They dodged around trees and logs, jumped over small streams, and evaded the many stampeding animals that crashed through the long grass blindly in their panic. Riku's spell kept the worst of the soot and ashes at bay, but the acrid smell of burning wood and grass still reached their nostrils. The Heartless increased steadily in number the further they got, but just as they reached the edge of the greedy bush fire they were suddenly completely gone.

Sora looked this way and that as Riku slunk forward cautiously, sniffing at the ground for any hint of the Heartless, although all either of them could smell was the fire. Sora looked down at his paws, trying to decide what manner of tracks were before him, when something heavy landed on his back with an unearthly screech. He jumped and twisted with a snarl, extending his claws and summoning his keyblade. The thing on his back dug in claws of its own and hung on; Riku heard the commotion and came running back to his defence, but it wasn't until someone else entered the fray that they managed to get Sora's attacker to let go. They pounced from a rock face above and landed on the thing on Sora's back at an angle, making it lose its footing and fall sideways with a horrible shriek that made their ears ring.

Dizzy and bleeding from the long gashes on his back, Sora stumbled to his feet, trying to see through the haze what his attacker and who his saviour were. Riku stalked forward a couple of steps, lips drawn back over his teeth in a vicious snarl. The thing that had attacked them twisted and rolled, caught in a tangle of brush where it had landed, shrieking in a high pitched wail that made Sora's chest vibrate in a sickening manner. The one who had saved him was stood solidly between them and the thing – and he had to do a double take.

"_You_-?!" he gasped at the male lion with a dark colouration to his pelt.

He turned his head just enough to look at him, and raised his chin slightly in defiance.

"Who are you?" Sora demanded.

For a split second he had been convinced it was Scar who stood before them – but this lion was completely different. He was stockier, not so lean and lanky, and his face was fuller, not quite as thin; his fur was also a darker hue, and his mane was not shot through with grey. And the look in his eyes was anything but the cold, heartless, uncaring expression in Scar's.

"No time to explain." The lion said with a touch of annoyance. "You finish it off if you can, I have to get going,"

"Okay," Sora said uncertainly, looking at the thrashing form that was still wailing in a high, hair-raising ululation that sent shivers down his spine.

"Wait just a second!" Riku snapped, taking another step forward, but they both had to jump back as a nearby tree that had grown to ample proportions collapsed, throwing a blazing log down between them and the other lion by way of its impressive, twisted trunk.

"No time! Get outta here!" the dark coloured lion shouted over the roar of the flames before he disappeared into the flickering shadows.

"Riku!" Sora yelled above the din as the thing detangled itself from the brush and leapt from a good few metres away towards them. He had just enough time to get a fleeting look at it before it tried to sink its teeth into Riku's throat.

It _looked_ like a panther. A long, sinuous body ending in long, sinuous limbs that moved and flowed gracefully like liquid darkness. It was covered in soft skin, or a pelt of fur so fine it seemed as if it were skin. Whatever it was, it was blacker than night, and a pair of bright yellow eyes stared out of the fearsome feline skull, deep set and full of malice.

It crashed into Riku, barely missing his jugular by a fraction of an inch, and had to contend with Sora's assault on it as well as Riku's retaliation. It had a long, slender back that ended in a three-limbed tail at its rump. Each was trim, but exceptionally strong and powerful, as Sora found out when one of them smacked him squarely in the jaw, nearly dropping his Keyblade at the unexpected strike. He saw just for a moment the end of the tail, whipping out of sight; it had a leaf shaped barb at the end, with a wicked looking spike stuck out of the point, all as black as the rest of its body.

They didn't manage to bring the beast down – whatever it was. After tussling with little success, Sora managed somehow to get underneath its body and rake his Keyblade down its exposed underside. The creature screamed, and they both hit them ground in a daze, their heads ringing and nausea growing in the stomachs. Sora blinked and looked up to find fangs inches from his face, and gulped. Before they could tear into him, there was a blinding flash of light, and the creature turned tail and ran, pelting straight through the flames that engulfed the savannah as if they had no effect on it.

"Sora! Riku!"

They both struggled to get up, and found Ven nudging at them encouragingly, helping them to their feet.

"What happened? Are you all right?"

"Ouch…" Sora winced as he straightened out and felt the dried blood on his back crack. That was going to leave a mark…

"This…_thing_ came outta no where!" Riku panted, blinking as a small trickle of blood dripped into his right eye. "There was another lion who helped us, but he took off, and then it came back for us-!"

Sora frowned, looking at Ven's anxious face, and then to either side of him.

"Where's Kairi?"

"With Simba. Zazu found Kiara and led them to her. We heard that…noise," it was as good as any description, really. "So I came back to look for you. C'mon, let's get outta here," he nudged them both away from the burning tree and they slowly made their away further from the fire, towards a small lake set back from the inferno.

"Oh look!" Sora said to Riku as they advanced on the party congregated by the water's edge. "There's that lion we saw!"

And Simba was roaring at him in an unfriendly manner. Forgetting his injuries for a moment, Sora leapt forward to try and stop him, but he almost tripped over his own feet as pain laced its away down his back.

"Simba, wait!" he shouted hoarsely.

"Stay back!" Simba commanded, sizing the stranger up.

"But Simba! He helped us!" Sora tried to reason with him. "There was this…_thing_, I don't think it was a Heartless, but that's not important. He saved us."

"I can see," Simba said sarcastically, eyeing his injuries.

"Well," Riku said, slumping forward with an uneven gait to Sora's defence. "He did tell us to run for it, and we stayed put. Can't blame that on him."

Kairi rushed up to them, calling their names and nuzzling them to make sure they were all right. Her fur was matted with dirt and smudged with soot, but she seemed unharmed.

"He is an outsider," Simba said imperiously, glowering at the lone lion. "He doesn't belong here."

"Hey!" Sora said indignantly. "He saved us!"

"And me!" Kiara defended him further, trying to get past her mother's protective embrace to join the debate.

Ven padded over to them, watching intently. "Seems like he's the hero of the day," he said quietly.

Simba gave Ven a pained look, and Sora said, "At least give him a chance! He helped me and Riku, and I believe Kiara. He can't be all that bad if he tried to help out so many strangers, right?"

Simba looked into Sora's eyes, struggling with some internal conflict, and the back at the lone lion. He drew himself up and said, "I have _left_ the Outsiders. I am a rogue. Judge me now, for who I am." He leant forward and downward slightly, eyes burning with resolve. "Or am I to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit?"

Simba listened in stoic silence as Nala and Zazu voiced their opinions, and looked first from Ven to Sora, who smiled encouragingly.

"My father's law will prevail." He announced. "For now, I reserve judgement. We'll see who you really are."

Riku's head drooped as he spoke, and they slowly marshalled themselves into order and followed Simba at a sedate pace back towards Pride Rock. Kiara perked up and padded over to the lone lion before turning to follow her father swiftly. Ven walked slowly towards the lion and gave him a quick once over before he spoke.

"Thank you, for helping Sora and Riku."

"My pleasure." He had a sort of disdain, a bit like Riku when he was trying to wind Sora up, although he guessed it was probably because he was feeling defensive.

"Yeah!" Sora beamed as he bounded to Ven's side. "I didn't get a chance to say before – thanks!"

The lion snorted with amusement, looking down at him from his greater height. "Welcome."

"My name's Sora, what's yours?"

"Kovu." He said simply, rather guarded.

"I'm Ventus, that's Riku and Kairi. I can't thank you enough,"

"So…you're _not_ from Simba's pride?" Kovu asked casually, shifting his paws in the dusty earth at their feet.

"Nope. Just passin' through." Sora explained. "Simba's a friend, and we came here to help with the Heartless problems."

Kovu grunted and looked up, watching Kiara as she retreated from view. Sora turned to Riku – who was still hanging back. Kairi gave Sora a meaningful look, and she walked on ahead with Ven while Kovu slunk behind them. Sora doubled back and went to Riku's side.

"You coming?"

Riku nodded dully and set off at a slow pace. Sora wasn't having any of it, and bounced along side him; giving him a nudge and trying to coax a response form him.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed, and refused to meet Sora's eye. "Nothing."

Sora raised an eyebrow, and sped up to over take him and stood resolutely in his way so Riku had to face him. Riku lowered his head, trying to avoid Sora's gaze, and Sora followed him by leaning forward and down, trying to look him in the face.

"What is it?"

Riku closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face Sora, keeping his head held high so he had to look up. Slowly, Riku opened his eyes, staring after Kovu, still avoiding Sora's gaze.

"I know how he feels. Only…it _was _my crime."

Sora sighed dramatically and fell in a heap at Riku's feet. This was just beyond ridiculous!

Riku looked surprised and crouched down to nudge at him, but Sora got to his feet, scraped his feet on the ground and then flounced off with his head held high, tail flicking imperiously.

"Puh! I don't know why I hang out with you!" he said disdainfully.

Riku cringed and looked at his front paws, ears and tail drooping.

"I mean," he went on, trying and failing to hide his smirk. "You are _such_ a grouch! I honestly don't know why I put up with all of your gloominess!"

Riku drew himself up, glowering at Sora who beamed back. He snarled, drawing his lips back and Sora's grin widened.

"You are _such_ a pain in the ass!" Riku scowled.

"And you think you aren't?" Sora went down on his front legs, rump waving in the air playfully, tail flicking like a target. "You know, Kairi and I sometimes talk about ditching you because you're such a drag on our optimism and-!"

He didn't get any further because Riku pounced. They tussled rather half heartedly, still tired out from their earlier battles, but at least it brought a smile to Riku's lips. Ven was sat waiting for them, looking bored while Kairi paced on ahead, ignoring the boys with her nose in the air.

"Y'know Riku," Sora said quietly as they joined the tail end of the procession back to Pride Rock, Ven stopping to watch over his shoulder for them every so often. "Really, we don't care about all that. You shouldn't worry,"

"I can't change what I've done." Riku said harshly.

Sora stopped for a moment, cocking his head to once side. "But you tried to fix it – and I wouldn't even _be _here if it wasn't for you. C'mon Riku, if ever there was a hero, _you're_ one."

Riku looked unconvinced, but then his thoughts took a turn in a new direction and he started laughing.

"What?" Sora demanded, batting at his ears and chasing his flicking tail, trying to get an answer out of him.

"I just remembered…" Riku giggled, shaking his head.

"What?" Sora pleaded. "Tell me!"

"You said, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here."

"Well yeah," Sora grinned, happy his best friend was more light hearted. He hated it when Riku was down. "I mean, sure you've got me into loads of trouble – like with that frog in biology – but you always drag me out of it again!"

"Remember that _incident_?" Riku asked, slowly stepping forward after Ven.

"What? What incident? Just _tell_ me!" Sora whined. He knew if he sounded pathetic or annoying enough Riku would eventually cave.

"That little incident with the toaster when we were seven?" Riku said, giving him a sly smile.

Oh. _Oh_…

Sora gaped at him in horror.

"You know what? I don't think Ven ever heard that one. Maybe I should tell him,"

"Tell him and you're Heartless chow!" Sora shouted at him, face heating with embarrassment.

Riku flashed him a winning smile and set off at a run. "Hey, Ven!" he called.

"Oh, _now_ what?" Ven heaved a great sigh and turned around to face them.

"You're dead meat, Riku!" Sora pounced and dug his claws in.

Ven watched the spectacle, looking rather bored. Kairi padded up quietly beside him and sat down to watch, equally bored. Ven leaned his head on top of hers and said, "I am _never_ making fun of Aqua's authority again. I am not cut out for this job."

Kairi nuzzled his neck by way of a hug. "_I _think you're doing a good job,"

Ven straightened up and strode over to Sora and Riku, trying to tear each other's fur out. He dealt them both a blow to the skull and rolled them away from each other. Riku beamed and Sora scowled – a reversal of their usual expressions at a time like this.

Sora watched closely as they drew up alongside Pride Rock, and tensed as Riku sauntered over to Ven, oozing confidence with every step. He looked over his shoulder with half closed eyes and saw Sora's stare boring into him; he opened his mouth to grin and stuck his tongue out so it lolled, a bit like Leo, and winked with exaggeration before turning his back.

"So Ven, there's this story I thought you'd like to hear-"

"Oh?" Ven yawned, and then yelped as Sora flew to Riku's side and got his teeth into his throat. "Sora, stop trying to kill your best friend! Riku, stop encouraging him! _Are you two even listening to me_?!"

XOXOX


	23. Fall Into Place

**AN: wow I'm really getting behind on my writing quota… :S I do apologise for that xD I am attempting to stay on top of it all, and trying to keep the plot from becoming one big twisted mess – because I've been liasing with **HeartofFyrwinde **and their awesomeness has been bouncing ideas around in my head and giving me inspiration overload that needs taming before I make the plot explode into some incomprehensible thing xD so yeah…expect delays, although hopefully not as long as it has been recently :P**

**Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions/feedback please drop me a review and let me know what you think! :) **

…_**Fall Into Place**_

"_Whoa!_" Terra breathed, as they stared at the landscape that spread out below them, as far as the eye could see beneath the pinnacle of rock on which they stood.

It was stunning; evergreen trees dusted with snow, rivers rich with fish, forests abundant with grazing animals and prowling predators, and in the distance vast grasslands to the south _teeming _with yet more life. Aqua sighed at the sight, it was so beautiful. A huge waterfall at the other side of a chasm that walled the valley below had a spectacular rainbow hanging in the mists that floated up from the constant back spray of flowing water. She felt the wind ruffle her hair and looked up to see Leo beaming down at her before turning his attention to the view, hovering above them like a sentinel.

"You can practically see _forever_!" Terra was grinning like a kid, shielding his eyes against the morning sun and gazing to the mountains in the north.

"That means it's going to rain in my books." Mel said, leaning forward slightly and looking straight down below, a near vertical drop into the pine forest below. "There was this hill miles away from Dragon Springs, and if you could stand at the top and look out over the fields and see the town clearly that meant it was going to rain. There was this place I visited where an island in the sea had the same effect from the cliffs on the mainland. I never understood why."

"I wanna see the mammoths!" Terra was almost bouncing with suppressed energy, which made Aqua giggle. He grinned at Mel, and then gave her a shove – thankfully away from the edge of the rock face on which they were stood, and tore off down a steep path into the gorge shouting, "Race ya!"

"Not fair!" Mel called back, taking the bait most likely to humour him. "My legs are shorter than yours!"

Leo heaved a dramatic sigh and whipped his tail out to trip Mel up and then pushed her over the edge before jumping after her. Usually, this was done by command or she was given a heads up; having been caught unawares Mel screamed in surprise.

Aqua sighed and followed at a more sedate pace down the path in Terra's wake. She met them down in the forest with a dignified frown, though Terra over looked her disapproval.

"That was cheating." He sulked.

"That was unexpected," Mel was still straightening herself out, and she wagged a finger in Leo's face to show just how much trouble he was in. "You shouldn't do that to someone without fair warning – or at all, really. You don't like it when you get sneaked up upon."

"Don't you mean 'snuck up'?"

"Can we get going and do our job?" Aqua stalked past, ignoring Leo's plaintive whine. He banged his tail against the ground and gave them his best impression of a sad puppy – Aqua frowned deeply to hide her breaking heart. She smiled and then laughed when Mel poked him under his jaw where he was rather ticklish, and he squirmed all over in response to her touch.

They started trekking through the woodland, and soon came to the edge of the vast grassland prairie where they split up. Leo was more interested in chasing birds and rubbing himself against the trees than the mega fauna roaming the landscape, so while Aqua wandered through the forest with Leo, flattening vegetation as he went, Terra and Mel went skipping off to check out the local wildlife.

"Don't get too close. Terra!" Mel said in a low voice, waving her arms frantically as Terra skidded to a halt.

"But it's a rhino!" Terra insisted, pointing at the great shaggy beast. "In the _snow_! How weird is that?"

"That's a woolly rhino – one of the most foul tempered creatures in the world! No, get back here, please!" she motioned, looking extremely worried.

"Everything okay?" Aqua asked, concerned as Terra trudged back.

"But I wanted to get a closer look," he pouted.

"Honestly," Aqua snapped. "You're behaving just like Ven!"

Terra glowered at her as Mel tugged on his arm.

"If we skirt around her it'll be fine," she pointed to the huge rhino with deep red hair and a wicked looking horn that curved upward from its nose. "The way you were running towards her, if she caught your scent she would have charged you. Rhinos of any kind can kill easily,"

"How d'you know it's a her?" Terra asked, too bursting with inquisitiveness to remain sulky for long, and with Mel's encyclopaedic knowledge of these things his curiosity was soon satisfied.

"Look there, behind the rhino and just to the left, up a bit? See – _there_," she pointed. "It's a baby. Woolly rhinos travel either as loners or very small family groups. A mother rhino is the most unreasonable individual you could come across." She put her arms around Terra's waist and hugged him tight. "And I'd cry my eyes out non stop for a month if you got gored by a rampaging rhino."

Aqua laughed at the mixture of fear, alarm, and pleasure on Terra's face as she said this.

"Okay you two, _behave_. Meet us back here in an hour? As long as you don't go bothering the locals and stirring up trouble. I'll leave a mark on this tree so we know where to meet up."

"Don't worry," Mel said in her calm, even tones. "I'll keep Terra out of trouble."

Terra grinned and mussed up her hair. "Let's go see the mammoths!" he enthused before setting off at a brisk pace through the tall grass.

"And watch out for ticks! Terra?"

"Yeah, I got ya!"

Mel smiled at Aqua as she walked past. "We'll be careful. Keep an eye on Leo,"

"Will do!" she went back to the trees, where Leo was rubbing himself in earnest with a groan. "Just you and me, then."

Leo made a deep grating noise inside his chest before he groaned again and rubbed his head and neck down a lightning struck tree, breaking branches off as he went.

"Something wrong?" she stroked him, and then stared at her hand as it came away with a large clump of rather ratty feathers. She looked at him again, scratching himself against the trees, and came to a conclusion. "You're shedding! Well, it is spring now, you must be really hot under all that,"

Leo nodded and whined loudly as he nearly brought down another tree.

"Let's try not to bring the forest down," she said gently, rubbing him behind the ears and patting her hands down rid them of feathers.

They continued to meander together, trying to keep destruction to a minimum. Leo did try, but it was difficult for him when great clouds of downy winter feathers kept floating free. It had come so suddenly from nowhere, without any build up or warning; Aqua couldn't note it in their journal because Mel had it, and she was running around the grasslands with Terra. She'd just have to try and remember everything for later – although she did save a few handfuls of feathers for research purposes, and as a reminder.

As they walked they came back towards the area where large rock formations jutted out of the earth before they blended into the mountains further north; there was a tall cliff face that formed an over hanging shelf, offering protection from the wind and rain to a certain extent. A small campsite was set up underneath it, with a dead fire in a hearth made of stones. Aqua steered them away from it when they found no hint of the Darkness that went with the Heartless. Just some local people out on a hunt by the look of it, judging by the equipment scattered around and the hides that were being stretched on frames – they couldn't have been gone too long, and would soon be back.

Aqua followed a trail down along the edge of the limestone cliff face, and came to a halt when she found a cave set into the wall. She looked over her shoulder at Leo, rubbing his neck resolutely on a pine tree.

"I'm just going to take a look inside," she told him, and he nodded before closing his eyes.

Inside the walls and ceiling were beautifully painted with animals of every description, most of which they had seen from the top of the rock pinnacle. It must have taken a lot of time to carve and paint so many animals in such fine detail – it was breath taking. Aqua jumped when her foot hit something that made a loud noise in the enclosed space. She knelt down and picked it up, turning to the light to try and get a better look at it; at the mouth of the cave, she saw it was carved from bone, and looked to be some sort of amulet judging by the twisted string of grass that was fed through a hole at the top. It looked at first more like a scarab beetle than anything else, but the more closely she looked the more Aqua realised that it was very finely, _very_ carefully carved with lots of different animals in the different segments that were separated by deep grooves; the detail was shallow, almost an impression, but it was distinctive once you noticed it. Magic clung to it, though it was weak and probably not so effective anymore, whatever it had once been used for.

"That's a very special amulet."

"Oh!" Aqua looked up at the voice, and started when she saw the elderly woman standing over her. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't be, child." She may have been old, but she had a strong vitality in her gaze, and a twinkle in her eyes that reminded Aqua of Mel. "Here," she held out her hands to help Aqua to her feet. She was shorter than Aqua, maybe even shorter than Mel, though it was hard to guess. She was garbed in an array of leather and animal skins, and had two thick red lines across the bridge of her nose like a tattoo.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Nonsense, my child." The woman said good naturedly, patting her hands. "I think…you had better hold on to this. Yes, I think it now belongs to you."

"Why…_thank_ you, but I'm not sure I understand."

The woman smiled and laughed jovially. "My dear! I think it will become apparent to you very soon." She turned and started to walk away towards the hunters' camp. "And I think," she said as she went, "it will come in very handy in your fight against the Dark." Aqua froze for a moment, trying to gauge the woman's words and her reaction. The woman appraised her for a moment from a distance before saying, "That amulet has many qualities that can help you and your friends."

"I'm really sorry," Aqua said, running her fingers across the surface of the amulet. She glanced sideways and saw Leo's golden eyes staring out of a shady clump of bushes. Good, he wouldn't cause any alarm. "But I don't understand,"

The woman sighed, but good-naturedly so. She motioned for Aqua to follow, and said, "And you can bring your friend over there with you if you like." She laughed at Aqua's expression. "Don't think I don't see you in there, young one! The hunters are gone for now, it's safe enough. I'd like to show you something."

Leo crawled out of the shade, wide eyed, and scuttled to Aqua's side where he hovered undecidedly. Aqua took a moment to make her mind up, letting her instinct guide her – she followed the woman who set a deceptively fast pace, with Leo right behind her. If she was being tricked, he would spring to her defence, which was a huge comfort.

They walked on past the abri where the camp was laid, and on towards another huge limestone shelf a little further on. Here too there were beautiful cave paintings, though a few were much thinner and more faded than others.

"The legends of the Elders speak of people like you," the woman said softly, touching a beautiful but badly damaged mural. With a jolt, Aqua saw the impression of a person sketched out in black and grey paint – and they were holding a key-shaped club in their hands. "They carry strange staffs and spears, that hold a very special kind of power. They are to their people as Shamans are to ours,"

And then it clicked – this woman was a Shaman, like Mel. Why hadn't she seen it sooner? Any reservations Aqua may have had before were gone.

"What do your people call them?" she asked carefully, not sure how much the woman already knew. The Powhatans' had known a bit themselves, but in the interests of World Order Aqua couldn't give away anymore than the woman was already aware of.

"They call it a Keyblade, though I don't know why." The Shaman said. "It isn't like anything I would call a _blade_. But that is just the way it is, I suppose." She moved on to another painting, and Aqua followed with Leo hanging over his shoulder, still shedding feathers every which way. "Now then, this," she cupped her hands underneath Aqua's, lifting the amulet up towards the sunlight. "Has been handed down through the generations for countless years. I knew what you were the moment I saw you, and this one," she smiled warmly at Leo, and his tail thumped against the ground in response. "He's very special, isn't he?"

"I think so," Aqua smiled back, rubbing his neck.

"I think…perhaps its time for this to go to a new home," the woman said gently, tapping a finger against it. "It's very precious, and mustn't fall to the wrong hands. I've had to hide it in recent years, and maybe it will be safer with you when you leave for your home. Yes, I'm well aware this is not the only world. Well, this and the Spirit World," she tipped Aqua a wink. "There are many out there, though few know it. Now, this is very important," she went on, and began to speak in hushed tones that made Aqua feel a bit anxious. "This amulet can help you in a number of different ways, child. It can help you to communicate with certain beings in this world, and it can also be a powerful protective charm when your need is great. There is something else from the Elder Legends, that has been almost forgotten – I do not know or understand what it means, but I'm sure when the times comes it will make sense to you, or to the one who needs it."

"What?" Aqua asked, forgetting her manners for a moment in her anxiety.

"I don't know," she woman smiled sadly. "I wish I could tell you more. All I can tell you is this: the legends speak of a time in the midst of great upheaval in the worlds when the spirits are greatly distressed, and it is the number three that shall prevail against the last great movement before the Dark settles down once more."

Aqua tried to digest what had been said, trying to figure out what it could possibly mean, but nothing sprang to mind. She repeated the words back to the Shaman to make sure she had remembered it correctly, and received an approving nod.

"I must say," the woman giggled as she reached up unafraid to pet Leo. "I never though I'd live to see a real dragon. The Spirits have blessed me greatly. It is an honour to meet you, Oh Feathered One."

Leo sat back on his haunches and stared hard at the old woman before leaning forward and very gently taking her hair in his teeth, the leather bands keeping it in check coming undone as he began grooming her like a good friend. Aqua let him, and continued to look around at the cave paintings; she found the merest, most vague impression of a dragon near the Keyblade, like a smoky wraith and only discernable because she was familiar with the anatomy.

"Well, my children, it has been wonderful meeting you, and I do hope that amulet brings you at the very least good luck, but I must go now."

"Thank you, so much." Aqua smiled at her. "But before you go, please tell me your name? I'm Aqua,"

"A Leader among your people," the woman said, shaking her hand warmly. "Though not quite a Shaman yourself, my dear. I am called Tanana."

"Thank you, Tanana. And – this is Leo."

"And lovely to meet you too, Leo."

Leo rumbled his approval and licked her cheek, making her giggle.

"Now, now! I must be going, and I think you should be too. Strange things have been happening around these parts – oh no, child!" she said quickly at Aqua's alarmed expression. "Nothing like that! There are no bad spirits of the Dark here. But, I think perhaps you should go look for your friends soon."

A chill ran down Aqua's spine.

"Take care, and walk always in Great Spirit's grace!"

"And you! May the Light shine on you always,"

They parted ways, Aqua clutching the amulet close to her while Leo trundled along behind her. He deftly flipped her onto his back and put on an extra spurt of speed that devoured more distance than she could make on foot.

"I wonder what she meant…" Aqua said aloud to him, stroking the amulet and trying to discern exactly which animals were engraved on its surface. "About all of it," she slid the amulet into her pocket, and jumped as she heard a roar from nearby followed by a series of deep grunts.

Leo skidded to a halt, and a large bear trundled into their midst, looking just as startled as they felt. But instead of running away or flying into a fury that Mel had warned against in her basic backpacking survival lecture, it bounced towards them with obvious joy. Leo raised his hackles and snarled, making the bear skid to a halt in confusion. He advanced and the bear backed up, calling insistently, as if trying to convey something. And then a wolf flowed out of the undergrowth, with a very familiar satchel clamped firmly in its jaws. It paced right up to Leo without a trace of fear or hesitation, dumped the bag in front of him and got up on its hind legs, making plaintive yips and yowls.

Leo sat still for a moment, nostrils flaring, before he gently leant down and sniffed the dusty brown and grey wolf. With warning he gathered it up in his forelegs and started grooming its fur with a happy hum. The bear stood up again and started calling to Aqua while she stared on in amazement.

"Leo?" she asked incredulously, looking from the happily squirming wolf to Mel's satchel on the ground. She carefully slid from his back and advanced on the animals, and the bear came forward eagerly to greet her.

Staring into the eyes of an animal that under normal circumstance should have been hostile, she saw that instead of dark, near black brown, they were a dark, clear blue.

"_Terra_? Is that _you_?" she gasped.

The bear bounced on its front legs and called again, unable to make himself understood. The wolf wriggled out of Leo's grasp and bounded over to Aqua, yipping and yowling as it went – its eyes were a deep green.

"_Mel_?"

The wolf nodded before sitting back on its haunches by her side and nosing at her pocket, watching her intently as it did so. Aqua put her hand into the pocket and pulled out the amulet she had just been given, and dropped it in shock when she heard Terra's voice.

"-She's never going to-!"

"Ahh!"

The wolf yowled and whined as Aqua bent down to pick it up, and the moment it touched her skin, she heard Mel saying, "…That necklace – it's got powerful magicks in it, I could feel it from out on the steppes!"

"You can talk!" Aqua said, stunned.

"You can understand us?!" Terra demanded happily, his furry face crinkling with joy. "Thank goodness! We thought for sure you wouldn't be able to,"

"But what _happened_ to you!?" Aqua demanded, getting over the initial shock, and feeling the anger set in. "Didn't I tell you to-!"

"Wait!" Mel stood up like a human to gain Aqua's attention before sinking gracefully back onto all fours. "We weren't doing anything silly or dangerous! We stopped by a river, and there was this bright light-"

"We didn't touch anything!" Terra insisted earnestly.

"-And when we got up we found ourselves like this." Mel explained. "I don't know what happened. But it was a powerful energy. I don't think it was bad, though…it didn't seem very threatening."

Leo whined and licked Mel's furry head, delighted to have her back.

Aqua just gaped at them.

The she shook her head, slipping the amulet over her head and tucking it carefully away, and said, "I don't know…I think I understand why Master Eraqus never let us go explore other worlds when we were younger. Just look at you! I can't turn my back for five minutes!"

"Well it's not my fault!" Terra snapped, affronted.

Mel licked Aqua's hand and rubbed herself against her leg like a dog, whining a good imitation of Leo when he was trying to placate someone. "I can assure you it wasn't intentional," she said softly.

Aqua sighed and rolled her eye, kneeling down to hug the grey-brown wolf.

"It's okay…though I am a bit surprised,"

"Oh?" Mel turned to look at her with one bright, green eye.

"I would have thought for sure you'd be a red wolf."

"Oh." Mel sat back on her haunches and blinked, taken completely by surprise. Aqua and Terra burst out laughing at her expression, and she tensed her legs as if preparing to run, though they knew she wouldn't. "I didn't really think about it?" she said eventually, still stunned.

"You're so funny when you're caught by surprise," Terra cooed, trying to grab her in a real bear hug, but Mel twisted out of the way neatly and bounded over to Leo's side, where she was swept up onto his back before Terra could dive after her.

"Well, I guess we have work to do." Aqua said dully, giving Terra a look. "Since you managed to get yourself into trouble. _Again_."

"I get blamed for everything…" Terra muttered darkly.

Mel crouched low on Leo's back, staring ahead intently before jumping from her perch and landing lightly on Terra's back. He jumped in surprise, but made no move to shake her off. Mel settled down comfortably on his back and leaned forward to lick his cheek.

"Ven gets blamed for way more stuff than you do."

Terra snorted as he got up and fell in step beside Leo as they set off through the trees again. "You sound just like Kyo."

"I dare say we rub off on each other." Mel murmured, jumping back down to the ground and nosing through the brush. "I can smell another bear. Or maybe…human?" she wandered around in a broad circle, snuffling through the undergrowth.

"How do you _do_ that?" Terra asked in amazement.

"Shaman tend to become animals in Vision Quests and things like that. I know what wolves are capable of. There's definitely a young bear that came through here, and a human…and it smells like another bear _and_ another human? That can't be right…" she sat down, puzzled until Aqua spoke up.

"Maybe it _is_ right. Look at you and Terra." The something else occurred to her. "I met a Shaman from the local village, she said strange things have been going on. Maybe you're not the only ones,"

XOXOX

The door slammed open and bounced off the wall with a bang, making everyone jump in alarm. When they all looked up, Lynn was standing in the doorway, looking thoroughly irritated.

"Anyone seen my laptop?" she demanded.

"Not recently." Ansem said evenly while Joey scowled and buried himself deeper under a pile of gummi blocks.

"Oh, this is _bloody ridiculous!_" she snarled, spinning on her heel and stomping out of the room. "Where the hell could it have _possibly_ gone?!"

"Don't ask us," Joey muttered to himself.

"Hey! Sorry we're late!" Ashy called, skidding into the room with Kyo on her tail. "Kyo got side tracked,"

"I didn't!" he insisted, wide-eyed, and possibly hoping to get his way with something. "I just…"

"What did you do _this_ time?" Joey forgot his grievances and got up from the table to get a closer look.

Ansem slowly followed, feeling the years catching up to him in his stiff joints. Kyo was holding a bundle in his arms, and after some poking and prodding he lifted the rough leather to reveal a scrawny looking hare with a crooked hind leg and a ripped ear. Its fur was caked in places with blood, and rather grimy too, although it seemed apparent that under the muck it would have been a lighter shade of brown. The poor thing was too weak to move, and didn't resist Kyo's touch, but its eyes were wide and staring and its chest fluttered with alarm.

"I found it near the park when I was coming back from seeing Leon with this," he held up a book Ansem had asked him to retrieve. "It was really thirsty so I thought I'd get it a drink, and then I ran into Ashy and we got talking, and…" Kyo babbled, trying to explain his lateness, and possibly try to show the hare in a pathetic and needy light.

Ansem was sure he knew where this was going…

"But why bring it all the way up here?" Joey was saying as they sat down at the table again, Kyo cradling the hare as though it were a baby.

"I didn't want to leave it in case those weird things came back and had a go at it,"

"But isn't that the whole weird '_circle of life_' thing? Its gonna die, might as well feed something else so _it_ doesn't die too." Joey said with authority. He had been listening to Lynn the other day lecturing on ecological food webs and felt he had a good grasp of the subject that she hadn't tried to discourage.

In response, Kyo huddled the creature closer to him, and it appeared to lean towards his touch. "No!" he protested wildly.

"Gees Jo-jo," Ashy said, raising an eyebrow. "You're such a little ray of sunshine today."

"I was _just _sayin'," he sniffed, annoyed with her for contradicting him.

"But," Kyo's eyes were impossibly wide as he gazed at his friend. "But, it could die! I don't want it to die," he turned to Ansem to back him up, and in doing so turned to the heart of his motive. "Can't we do something to help it?"

"Let's have a look," Ansem said, taking the small bundle from him.

Joey watched on in feigned disinterest while Kyo hovered anxiously at his elbow. Ashy stayed where she was, watching Joey with narrowed eyes. There had been some sort of dispute between them, and though Kyo wouldn't say a word about it, Ansem guessed that Joey had had a row with either one or both of them last night. All things considered, it was probably just a minor set back – Sora and Riku were often at each other's throats, and they managed to patch things up between them – surely the three of them would get over the bump sooner or later, he thought to himself as he turned his attention aside for a moment.

The hare was severely dehydrated, and the crooked hind leg revealed a bone that had broken and healed over at a painful angle. It would have run away from his gentle touch if it had had the strength, but when Ansem handed it back to Kyo, it suddenly calmed down.

"Can we do anything?" Kyo asked, gravely concerned, with a hint of hope twinkling in his eyes.

Ansem appraised the young man, and then the hare in his arms. Well, why not? He obviously had his heart set on it, and Kyo was rather good with animals. It might take his mind off his constant worry for his sister and cousin, too.

"I dare say we can. Shall we go over to the infirmary and see what we can do?"

As they were walking there, Joey said, "Admit it, you just want to keep it as a pet."

"I want to help!" Kyo whined insistently. "Look at it! It's hurt! Look the bunny in the eye and tell you it doesn't hurt you right here?" he thumped himself over his heart, carefully trying to avoid jogging the bundle he was holding.

"That's a hare, not a bunny rabbit." Ashy pointed out with a grin. "There's a massive difference!"

"It's still a waste of fur, I mean," Joey gestured to the cowering hare with contempt. "Just _look _at it!"

There was a tense moment where the two boys glared at each other, and then Ashy coughed lightly after looking between the two of them and said, "Hardly enough meat there to fill a sandwich."

And then the three of them were falling about laughing, and probably traumatising the poor hare even further.

"Why'd you have a hare sandwich?" Joey asked.

"Hee hee, that sounded weird…" Kyo giggled. "Hair sandwich…!"

"Oh, you two!" Ashy snarled to herself as the two boys ambled along the corridor together after Ansem, beaming.

It wasn't too much trouble to deal with the hare in the end; the most difficult bit was resetting the leg, but after a while they managed to re-break the original fracture in the bone and set it properly. Full use of the limb may never be completely recovered, but it would be far less painful and easier to move around. The hare had to be sedated before they tried anything, and once the bone was reset Ansem showed Kyo how to set up a drip and attach it to the hare. Kyo frowned deeply with concentration, making sure he took in and understood everything he was told. Soon, the hare was sleeping naturally and comfortably in a nest of blankets, slowly being rehydrated.

Cid came looking for Joey, and Ashy went with them to help Rinoa out, leaving Ansem and Kyo with the hare in the infirmary. While he was carefully cleaning the wound on its ear, Kyo kept shooting Ansem furtive looks as if trying to gauge something. Ansem turned his back on the pretext of shuffling papers around and smiled to himself. When Kyo padded over softly, keeping his head down, he kept his face neutral.

"Master?" Kyo asked in a wheedling tone he often used with Mel.

"Yes, Kyo?"

He paused for a moment, teetering on the edge of his question before saying in a rush, "CanIkeeptheitplease?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that."

"Could-? Could I keep it – the hare. Please?" Kyo pleaded, bending his knees as if he meant to drop down on them to beg.

Ansem considered both the hare and the boy beside him for a moment before he smiled, and Kyo grinned in response.

"As long as you promise to take good care of her."

"Her?"

"Yes, it's a female hare."

"Oh." Kyo blinked, and ran a hand through his hair unconsciously. "I didn't know, I was busy looking at its leg and ear."

"But you _must_ look after her properly."

"Oh, I will!" Kyo's eyes were shining with enthusiasm. "I had a pet rabbit once, I took really good care of him! Hares are kinda similar – there's got to be a book in the library about them!"

Kyo was still bursting with suppressed glee as they left the infirmary with the hare, still fast asleep. They bumped into Lynn, who was still fuming over her missing laptop, and being heckled by Rhiannon over it.

"…Lose your damn head if it wasn't screwed onto your neck, egit!"

"But I left it in the lab under Cid's tool box! I left it _right there_!" Lynn was saying, gesticulating wildly in her agitation. "_And_ my memory stick and removable disc drives gone missing and all!"

"What's on there that you need for the project?" Rhiannon demanded angrily as she waved vaguely at Ansem and Kyo to acknowledge their presence.

"Nothing! Only I had a bunch of files I was holding copies of for several people – including Kenny." She spun round and grabbed Rhiannon by the shoulders. "He's going to _kill me_ if I lose all those photos and videos! And I still have a copy of his dissertation that he will _annihilate_ me for if I ever lost it!"

"Have you tried looking on your ship?" Kyo piped up, unafraid of Lynn's ire. He had made a passing comment to Ansem before about how she reminded him of his cousin Tom, which probably explained his acceptance and tolerance of her sudden outbursts that were starting to occur more frequently.

"But I didn't take it there!" Lynn looked like she was about to tear her hair out. "I left it very specifically in the lab on the shelf under Cid's tool box where it was out of the way and I _knew_ exactly where it was! And it's just gone-!"

"Poof!" Rhiannon made a gesture with her hands. "In a puff of purple smoke."

"Gah!" Lynn threw her hands into the air and stormed off. "I can't work under these conditions! I'm going to jump in the void and beat my head against a stalactite of doom – it'll be a better waste of my time then listening to your unhelpful…!"

Rhiannon sighed deeply as they watched her disappear around a corner, still ranting as she went. "I'd better go make sure she doesn't anyting _unusually_ stupid. Don't know _what_ she's done with the damn ting…"

Kyo was frowning as they continued on alone, and when asked he said, "I saw her put her laptop under the tool box on that shelf in the lab, and I don't _think_ anyone else's been in there since then…"

"I'm sure it will turn up," Ansem assured him, wondering himself what had happened to it.

The answer came a couple of days later when Mel, Sora and the others came to visit, and convened in the square outside the Committee's HQ in the unseasonably warm weather that called for short sleeves and shade. Leo caused quite a stir at first because he was shedding dramatic quantities of winter feathers everywhere, but after the novelty wore off conversation turned to their latest misadventures.

Sora was telling Aqua in detail about a place called the Pride Lands, and a lion they had met and made friends with, as well as a weird creature they had encountered; Ven was laughing hysterically at Terra, who stood fuming while he suffered taunts about his own latest escapade – being turned into a bear.

"You're just a big soft teddy bear, really! I mean, you _actually_ were!"

Terra growled to himself, and then smirked, flicking Ven's nose as he swaggered past. "At least it's better than a _frog_,"

"Hey!" Ven yelled at his retreating back, "I was cursed by a voodoo shadow man! What's _your_ excuse?!"

Mel appeared by his elbow, watching Terra go and said softly, "Frogs are cool."

"Yeah, way cooler than teddy bears!" Ven shouted at his friend.

"Not so loud!" Aqua pleaded with him. "Terra, behave!" she called to him as he made a rude hand gesture at Ven.

"I dare say you deserved that, though such practises are usually frowned upon." Mel murmured sedately. She jumped out of her skin when Kyo rushed her, having seen her from afar and managed to sneak up while she was other wise engaged.

"Mel!"

"Kyo! _Please_ don't do that!" she said, Ven helping her off the floor.

"I want you to meet someone!" Kyo said happily, taking the bag Rinoa had stitched together for him and lifting its contents out for inspection. "Her name's Hester!"

Mel blinked and stared at the calm, placid hare with a crooked ear, before looking up at her brother's shining eyes. "Well that's an interesting choice of familiar. Where did you find her?"

Kyo started telling the story of how he came to find and adopt the injured hare, and Ansem was pulled from his musings as Lea strode across the square, looking annoyed and perplexed, something paint splattered held under his arm. Lynn was basking in the sun on a low wall, stretched out to her full length and frowning deeply with her eyes closed. The missing laptop had been on her mind ever since she discovered its disappearance, and everyone had pitched in to try and help recover it, all to no avail. Ansem had set Kyo a task of sorting through the lab where they had been putting the cameras together – and found nothing. Lynn had given in to defeat, grumbling about how several people she knew would destroy her for losing certain files, and Rhiannon had given up on her and her 'stroppy cow' mood, leaving her for more animated conversation with her fellow keyblade wielders.

Lea stopped beside the wall and leaned over her, and Lynn's frown deepened.

"Mind moving your arse? Only you're blocking the sun, and my one last source of happiness in this pathetic existence of mine, so would you be a dear and shove off?"

"Here," Lea dumped the thing in his hands onto her stomach.

"Oof! The hell you doin', uh?" Lynn demanded angrily.

"This yours, right?"

Lynn blinked, and turned the thing over in her hands as Ansem came to investigate. Her battered old black laptop had cracked part of its casing, and looked as though someone had doused it with a full bucket of white paint.

"You found it?" Ansem asked, amazed as Lynn lifted the lid and checked the screen and keyboard. A few keys had been wrenched free, but it was probably repairable; the screen was hastily blanked out with more paint in a haphazard manner.

"I don't believe it! Where the hell did you find it?" she asked weakly.

"It was in a garbage can outside the castle. Saw some brats spray-painting the walls so I went to chase them off, and this was sitting at the top of the trash. I also found this," he held out a small brown drawstring bag with a small key ring attached to it of a white cartoon cat with a pink bow. "Anything to do with you?"

Lynn snatched it from him and wrenched the bag open before breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank God!" she shook out the contents – the missing disc drive and memory stick. "I'd almost given up on it!"

"Not what you were sayin' before," Rhiannon stated bluntly as she bustled over to take a look. "So where'd ya dig this up, then?" she said to Lea, not quite as ecstatic as Lynn over its reappearance.

"In a trash can."

"So how'd it get there? Pet," she turned to Lynn, already on her feet and marching off with a renewed sense of purpose. "Where are you goin'?"

Lynn spun round but kept on walking in the same direction backwards. "To salvage what I can! The casing's done for, but I can still pull all the data and files off, so I won't have a death warrant out for me. Oi, anyone got any wet wipes?"

Ansem couldn't help but frown to himself as Rhiannon trailed after her. "I wonder…"

"Beats me," Lea shrugged grandly, expression rather apathetic, though he was frowning too. "So someone _did_ move it from the lab. I was thinking it was probably one of Joey's 'friends'."

"Yes, about that," Ansem turned to him. "What's the latest?"

Lea shrugged, and side stepped out of the way as Sora and Riku ran past giggling, with Leo hot on their heels. Once they were out of the way, he said, "Joey's been under a lot of peer pressure lately. Seems his old friends don't like him hanging out with his new friends, and his new friends don't like his old friends, period. One of the little brats broke into Cid's workshop and trashed a few things – Joey's angry about it, and Cid's about to blow his lid. They don't seem to like the idea that Joey's moving on with his life and being a good, productive member of society."

"Hmm…" that was a bit sad, but Ansem had to keep a certain distance between himself and this new development. Joey was not strictly his responsibility, and besides his own research and the governing of the town, Kyo was his top priority.

"Woohoo!" Lynn bounced part, looking far more chirpy than he had seen her in a while.

"What's with you?" Terra asked, eyebrow raised as she floated by with a little victory dance. "Your computer got trashed."

"Yeah, but at least I know it _was_ nicked and I'm not just losing my tenuous grip on reality," Lynn positively beamed at him. "I'll just take this glorious moment to let that sink in before I mount a witch hunt after the little git what chucked it in the bins in the first place. But I have to make sure none of the files have been corrupted, which will take precedence over the witch hunt, so," she saluted him, spun round and pelted off across the square. "To the computer room!"

"I could strangle her…" Rhiannon muttered darkly, stalking after her.

"How is she so energetic?" Joey asked as he walked by with Ashy, grabbing Kyo to go for ice cream as he went.

Kyo gave Mel a pleading look and she smiled and said, "Have fun, I'll see you before we leave,"

Kyo grinned at her and asked as they walked away, "Why shouldn't she be energetic?"

"Because it's Monday!"

Kyo stopped in his tracks, staring down at Joey and stroking Hester's fur absentmindedly. "So?"

"So? _So_?"

Ashy laughed and gave them both a shove. "C'mon! I want ice cream,"

Ansem chuckled to himself, and laughed further when he over heard another conversation.

"I didn't think Monday's were ever really that bad," Mel murmured, looking up at Terra and Aqua.

"Yes they are!" Sora insisted, appearing from nowhere and swiftly followed by Riku. "Those kinds of days really do just exist!"

"They happen so often at home we have a name for them," Riku added earnestly.

"Week days, perhaps?" Mel suggested with a touch of humour.

"Hell yeah!" Sora shouted, pumping his fist in the air before slapping Riku's outstretched hand. "Let's go get ice cream!" he crowed taking a few steps before Riku gave him an almighty shove. "Hey!"

"Race ya!"

"No fair! _Riku_!"

"Guys, get back here! Hey, don't leave me behind!" Kairi shouted at them, running full pelt to catch up.

The others left behind laughed genially, and then exchanged the same looks of many a parent and carer over their charges.

"Shall we go home?" Aqua suggested, breaking the moment and motioning towards Leo, rubbing himself against the ground in a bid to rid himself of his winter coat.

"Leo," Mel called to him, and he reluctantly got to his feet and dragged himself over, looking very pitiful indeed. "Poor thing, are you hot?"

Leo groaned loudly and fell in a heap at her feet.

"Oh dear,"

"Let's get him home. Or…" Terra smiled slyly. "Maybe we should get some ice cream before we go?"

Leo's ears pricked up and his tail thumped against the ground, but apart from that he didn't stir.

"Ice cream, Leo!" Ven crouched down by his head and patted him affectionately. "You up for that?"

Leo raised his head, the picture of unhappiness, and croaked hopefully, tail still thumping.

"Race ya!" Terra shouted, pushing Ven so he fell over and ran off across the square, cackling with glee.

"I don't think so!" Ven shouted, pounding after him.

Mel turned to Aqua, and then motioned to Leo. "Your carriage awaits, my lady."

They said their goodbyes and climbed onto Leo's back; his discomfort didn't seem to affect his flying, and he took off rather gracefully, albeit in a cloud of ratty looking feathers that floated to the ground.

Ansem spent the rest of the day working on various bits and pieces in his study in between mulling things over in his head.

Although it reflected badly on Radiant Garden, he sincerely hoped it was just a hooligan teenager who had stolen Lynn's computer and defaced it so.

He had a rather unpleasant, sinking feeling about this…

XOXOX

Rhiannon sighed deeply and opened her eyes to focus on Evie as she tried to rescue her laptop. It had been hers since she went on that University course – some of the stickers had come off in the intervening years, but a few like the cartoon dinosaur and the 'I'M SO HAWT!' badge Kenny had stuck there were still intact, even though they were painted over. It shouldn't irk her, but it did to see another memento of the past ruined so casually – how did Aqua and the others feel when the got home to find the place completely smashed up?

Lea was hovering over Evie's shoulder, trying to help with the salvaging process. The battery inside the casing had somehow become damaged so it could only run directly off the mains, and one of the USB ports was broken beyond hope of repair, so they were taking longer and more convoluted steps to extract as much data as possible. The screen kept flickering and the colours were making weird and wonderful patterns in first dull greys and browns, and then bright neon stripes with jagged flashing lines sputtering across them.

Evie was angry, that much was clear to Rhiannon, but she was reigning it in long enough to save her files and as much of the computer as possible before replacing it. If she could find out who did this she'd probably go shout at them for a while before threatening divine retribution if it ever happened again; in all likelihood she would just stomp around for the next few days swearing about it until the next thing came along to occupy her.

Lea had made a remark about his suspicions – a bunch of stupid and immature kids holding a grudge against Joey – being the perpetrators. Evie had also rather carelessly remarked it might have been because she was a Nobody. She had probably thought Rhiannon hadn't been in earshot at the time, but she had been.

It was…distressing, to say the least. She understood why Evie had done what she did, but that didn't make it any easier for Rhiannon to forgive her. Four solid years…

"Did you get the files off the camera traps earlier?" Lea asked, dragging Rhiannon from her revery, so very grudgingly. They had found the laptop the previous day, but hadn't got round to actually working on it until now – Evie had swung by the camera traps to make sure they were still working properly before coming back here to start the recovery operation.

"Erm, yeah. I didn't have anything else on me so I used this," she held up her returned memory stick. "Stick it in the big computer, it's in the folder marked _RG traps-and-shizz_."

Lea snorted. "Inventive name."

"Me and my imagination." Evie yawned dramatically and went back to her laptop. "C'mon, don't crap out on me!" she whined, shaking the screen.

"Like _that'll_ do any good," Rhiannon told her.

"Like I asked for your opinion," Evie gave her a familiar look: eyebrows raised, mouth twisted in a parody of thoughtfulness, eyes wide and mocking. It was a silly, funny expression she had picked up from Kenny – they had great fun taunting Rhiannon, and each other come to that, using such faces.

But it was all wrong.

Her hair was the same shade of brown it had always been: brunette. But it was too short, cut severely on one side of her head, and not much better the other side where it lengthened – nowhere near as long as it should have been, down past her shoulders. Her fringe was probably meant to be 'artfully messy' – she'd always been changing her fringe at regular intervals, but she hadn't said anything about haircuts or the next fashion she would try out, and it remained for the most part a complete and utter mess.

And those eyes.

Evie's eyes had always been intriguing; a most curiously bright shade of red that put you in mind of Christmas, and her left eye had had a very peculiar dash of yellow, a bright sort of sunshine yellow. It was the thinnest, slimmest of triangles, as if a tiny slice of the red had been cut from the iris, only really noticeable if you bothered to look closely.

And those _clothes_… Rhiannon had been giving her grief over them and all, though that may just have been something to lighten the mood between them. They hadn't got on with each other when they first met, but they grew close over the years they had trained together – Evie's choice in clothes and fashion had never been something Rhiannon could understand. Of all the things to have a go at her over, Evie's clothes were the easiest to take the mick out of.

"Wha'?" Evie said petulantly, eyeing her over the top of her computer through her messy fringe, leaving the 't' off the end of the word and sounding like a complete pikey.

"I was just tinkin', pet." Rhiannon said loudly as Lea swore over the keyboard at the main computer behind them. "Your top shows too much of your tits."

Evie stared at her for a moment, before going back to her laptop.

"Notin' to say to that, flower?"

"I don't deign to respond to such slander." She retorted in a very well spoken and posh voice that was a far cry from her usually lazy, drawling accent.

Rhiannon closed her eyes, suppressing a chuckle. Even if her looks were changed, and her attitude was a bit too much to handle at times, it was still her Evie sat on the other side of the table.

When she opened her eyes again, she had a bit of a nasty shock. Evie was sat with her arms folded and her eyes closed; a classic 'Evie's in deep thought' posture. But the expression on her face was completely deadpan, neutral – completely disconnected and dispassionate.

_That_ wasn't Evie. Evie was fiery and passionate and a real pain in the neck, but she didn't fall into apathy for anything other than comedic purposes.

"Eaves!"

Her eyes fluttered open, and Evie looked up, rather bemused, though still lacking any real feeling.

"Wha?"

Rhiannon pursed her lips and held her tongue. She didn't want to admit how much it scared her, that look…

"Noting, pet."

"Well, if that's the case, kindly keep your trap shut," irritation flashed across her face as she massaged her temples. "I have some meditating to do and negative emotions to channels and technical shit to be getting on with. Last thing I need is _you_ being all…thing…" Rhiannon allowed herself a laugh, and ducked as the paper ball flew past her ear. "Can it, bitch! I'm trying to think!"

Evie's anger was better than the nothingness in her expression just now. She probably shouldn't wind her up so, but Rhiannon was acting impulsively and didn't know what else to do.

Lea swore more loudly still, and Evie slammed her fist into the table.

"Can a girl get some silence round here, people?!"

"Lynn, help!"

"Oh! What _now_?"

"There's a virus in the system!"

Evie and Rhiannon raced to the main computer, knocking chairs over as they went. Lea was trying frantically to close a program down, but the system was freezing up – or whatever it was computer programs did. This sort of thing had never been Rhiannon's forte…

"What the-?" Evie shoved him and his chair out of the way and started hitting buttons and filling in codes. "What did you _do_?!" her face was a mask of shock.

"I stuck the memory stick in, like you said, and then _that_ thing appeared," he pointed at a red icon at the top of the screen.

"Where's the emergency shut down for this thing?"

"The _what_?" Rhiannon demanded, trying not to panic.

"If this computer gets a virus the whole town will go to shits – we need to kill it _now_. We can rebuild it again if we have to, but we've got to stop it spreading through the entire network!"

"I don't understand computers," Rhiannon sighed, but Evie cut her off.

"Call the main office!"

"What is this, a school?" she demanded.

"Committee HQ, you moron! We have to kill the computer – switch it off at the wall?" Rhiannon stared at her dumbly. "Any of this a'ringin' a bell?"

"Lynn," Lea grabbed her by the arm and spun her round to look at the screen.

She froze, and stared at the images on it, which made Rhiannon worry quite a bit.

"Evie? Pet? What is it?"

"Serious shit," she said spinning round and running for the corded phone on the wall by the door. "That's what!"

"I think Tron might just hate us for this," Lea muttered to himself, trying to force a shut down.

"Ahh, your Wiseness!" Evie said into the phone as Rhiannon came over to join her. "The very man I wanted to speak to! See, we tried getting the files from the camera traps so we could analyse them, and for some reason there's this bug that's got into the system so we're just trying to kill the computer to keep it from spreading all over, and-" she looked up as Lea swore again. "Stand-by." She commanded, dropping the phone and racing back to the computer.

They both poured over the screen for a moment before exchanging looks and leaping into action. Lea pulled out his own, rather battered looking mobile phone and Evie ran to the phone in the wall again.

"Okay, scratch that. We appear to have a Heartless Program running through the system and even if we switch off at this point there's sod all we can do to stop it, please advise," she listened intently for a few moments before saying, "Understood, over and out," and slammed the phone into the cradle.

"You tink this is a movie or sometin'?" Rhiannon demanded, unnerved by too many things at this point.

"Here's the deal. _You_," she pointed at Lea. "Go get Sora and the others, and then swing by Disney Castle and grab Donald and Goofy. _You_," she pointed at Rhiannon, "go get Aqua and Co. Tell them all to meet at the Postern."

"And where the hell are _you_ goin'?"

"Down town to see about a little Heartless infestation Leon just discovered. Ansem's orders, not mine. Get going!" she dashed over to the table to grab her bow and quiver from where she left them under her chair, and stopped by the main computer long enough to seize the microphone, hitch a switch beside it and say, "Hang in there buddy, the cavalry's on its way!"

The only response they got before they piled out of the room was a scratchy transmission that said, "-_Hurry!_"

XOXOX

Sora and Riku stared at the kitchen table, and the debris that lay spread across it.

"We really suck at this." Sora said eventually, poking at empty eggshells in a heap by the mixing bowl.

"I told you we should've asked Aqua," Riku said, rather irked. It wasn't _his_ fault they didn't have any natural affinity for baking between them.

Sora folded his arms and frowned intently at the batter in the mixing bowl. They had argued over the order in which the ingredients should be added, and the quantities to be added… he was oscillating between taking it very seriously, and making fun of their endeavours, which was annoying Riku,

Sure thing, they'd said! They'd make Kairi a sponge cake for her birthday – no sweat! they had said.

Riku was never listening to Sora's advice _again_.

"I still think the flour should've gone in last." He said, checking the baking book his mother had given them, which said all the things Aqua had told him _not_ to do. They had measured the weight of four eggs, which was different to the weight of the other ingredients specified in the book, and Aqua had said that the key was to have equal amounts of each ingredient. This book was full of lies, as far as Riku was concerned; he threw it onto the counter top with disgust.

"Gees, Riku! Don't take it out on the book, it's not like it's _its_ fault it was printed with the wrong information."

"Just, shut up…" Riku sighed, rubbing his temples distractedly. This was almost more trouble than it was worth…

"Riku!" his mother called from the back patio.

"Yeah?" Riku shouted back, leaning out of the kitchen door, still annoyed.

"Kairi's here to see you!" she called brightly, knowing what they were up to.

"Quick!" Sora yelped, trying to hide the evidence.

The baking book with its dead give away title of _The Big Book of Birthday Cakes_ was thrown into the dishwasher, and in a sudden stroke of inspiration Riku took a handful of flour and threw it at Sora while he tried to dispose of the eggshells.

"Hey!" he spluttered, rubbing it from his eyes. "What's the big idea?"

"She'll never believe we were cooking without fighting," Riku reminded him with a grin, and ducked as an eggshell went flying his way, followed by a puff of flour.

Kairi walked in as Riku grabbed Sora in a headlock, both shouting at each other.

"Can you two try not to kill each other for five minutes?" she asked in a bored voice. "What are you up to, anyway?"

"Nothing!" they chirruped together, the picture of innocence with an arm casually draped around each other's shoulders.

Kairi folded her arms and tapped her foot, eyebrow raised at them with a look that clearly said 'do you think I was born yesterday?'

"Well, while you two block heads are messing around," she walked past the mixing bowl and dipped a finger in to taste. "Mmm! This is good! Did you put vanilla in it?"

"Yeah!" Sora said enthusiastically, and yelped when Riku struck him round the head. They gave each other pained looks, which instantly cooled off when she looked at them curiously.

"What are you two up to?" she asked shrewdly.

"Nothing! We just said." Sora insisted.

"Yeah! We were just having a bet."

"A bet." Kairi said flatly, unimpressed by this latest excuse.

"Yeah! Sora said we could bake a cake as good as Aqua's,"

"I did?" Sora asked blankly, and then said, "Oh yeah! I _did_ say that!" when Riku stepped on his foot.

"And I said we couldn't, so I bet the next three rounds of ice cream on it."

Kairi snorted with laughter and flicked her head to dispel a lock of hair away from her eyes. "You guys are _way_ out of Aqua's league when it comes to baking. You do know that, right?"

"Sora?" Riku's mother called unexpectedly.

"Huh? What is it?" he replied, leaning out of the kitchen door.

"There's someone asking for you?"

They all blinked at each other, and he said, "I'll go check it out, and left the room.

"Spill it," Kairi said, laying her hands flat on the table.

"What?" Riku asked innocently, inwardly cringing.

"What are you _really_ up to?" she demanded to know, looking around the room and trying to piece it all together.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Sora and I had a bet, and-"

"Oh please!" Kairi pulled a face. "Something's not right here,"

"Like what?" he challenged, hoping he didn't look too guilty. Kairi always did have a knack for dragging the truth out of them…sooner or later.

"You two weren't _really_ fighting." Kairi snorted derisively.

"Yeah we were!" Riku protested. "You saw me strangling him when you walked in,"

"So why do neither of you have bruises?" she demanded, and then pointed at his face. "All I see is one eggshell and a dash of flour. You two would have wrecked the entire kitchen by now unless you were plotting something. Your mom said you'd been in here all day. Spill the beans,"

Riku looked from her to the counter top, and took an exaggerated step towards a tin of baked beans, and slowly tipped it over before turning back to her to see if she was happy.

"I don't believe you!" she exclaimed loudly.

Riku was about to retort, but Sora fell over the threshold in a panic, which stopped him in his tracks. "What is it?" he asked sharply.

"Lea said we need to get over to Radiant Garden _now_! A Heartless bug got into the computer system, and the town's being attacked!"

Riku and Kairi launched themselves across the room and they all pelted down the hallway towards the back door.

"Sorry mom! I'll see you later!" Riku shouted as they jumped the garden fence. He hated constantly running off like this; the worry it must put her through…although they were all much better at returning when they said they would, which must be some comfort.

"Hey,"

Riku nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw Leah and heard her speak to him. She looked surprised when he nearly fell over, and stood red faced and tight with anxiety.

"Is everything all right?"

"Huh? Err, kinda," he said nervously, inwardly cursing himself. _Now_ was _not_ the time for…!

"Riku, c'mon!" Sora shouted at him, Kairi well ahead of them. "We've gotta go _now_, they need us!"

"Jetting off again?" Leah asked, trying to smile playfully.

"Look, I-" Riku hesitated. "I'm really sorry, but-"

"No…it's okay. I get it."

She really didn't, and he wished that he could tell her; he could barely make himself meet her eyes.

"Riku!" Sora shouted again. "Leon needs help!"

"It's fine, I can wait," Leah offered uncertainly.

"I'll be back," he told her earnestly, trying to ignore the way his heart fluttered when he looked her full in the face. "I promise. But right now…some friends of ours are in trouble, and-"

"RIKU!"

"I'm coming!" he shouted back angrily, looking at the ground. Before he turned to follow them, he said, "I'll come back soon, I promise!"

He didn't look at her expression as he ran after Sora, who was watching in agitation and hopping from one foot to the other, anxious to get going. He didn't want to see the look of disappointment on her face…

XOXOX

Mel trailed the eagle feather through the air, watching the way it moved and listening to the sound it made as it sliced through the air before throwing it above her head and watching how it fluttered downwards to the ground, waiting a moment after it came to rest on the paving stones before picking it up and starting the process all over again.

Ven watched with mild fascination while Leo kept attacking his feathery hide with his teeth and a vengeance, gouging great clumps of his winter coat out at a time in the unseasonably warm weather. It was starting to feel rather close and muggy, like a storm was thinking of brewing, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He felt a bit uneasy, but Mel's antics took his mind off it for the moment. Terra and Aqua were…somewhere, not that he really cared. They were probably making out or something equally gross, which he had no real desire to watch or even know about.

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and Ven said, "Mel, what _are_ you doing?"

"Hmm?" she asked, not looking at him while she spun around gracefully on the ball of her foot and threw the feather into the air again. "What?"

"I said, what are you doing?" he said again slowly, to be sure she understood him since her mind was clearly set on the task at hand.

"Playing." She said, blinking in surprise at his question, and jumping when he burst out laughing.

"I wasn't expecting that answer,"

"Neither was I." She smiled ruefully at him. "Is it that surprising?"

"Well," Ven considered for a moment as she bent down to pick the feather up again, gently teasing out kinks along its length. "You always seem to have a deeper meaning to the weird things you do. I just thought maybe that's what you were doing now." They were in the courtyard in front of the castle, enjoying the sunshine, although they were probably going to retreat indoors soon with this humidity. Poor Leo was positively baking in his black coat of feathers that he was trying to tear to pieces.

Mel looked startled, and then laughed unexpectedly, and Ven joined in. She smiled and said, "Don't you ever just do something for the fun of it? Here, try it." She handed the feather to him and took a step back.

Ven gave her a sideways look before throwing the feather over his shoulder. "That's not exactly _fun_…"

Mel giggled and retrieved the feather, brushing dust from it and putting it back in his hand. "Like I was doing. I find it fascinating just to play around with feathers. They make different sounds when you change the angle and the speed you move them at, and they make different patterns in the wind every time they come back down to earth. Just try it,"

Ven had to admit, she was right. There was something hypnotic about the exercise, and he could understand why she was doing it 'just for fun'. He'd always been intensely curious about new things, and he remembered playing this exact same game once, _years_ ago; two crows had been fighting that he had seen from the library window, and when he went down later he found a few feathers scattered around, and Master Eraqus had found him still out there in the gathering dusk. He turned to Mel with a grin, wanting to share in the enjoyment of the moment, but Mel was sat on the stairs, elbows resting on her knees, her hands clasped and held against her chin, pensive in her expression.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked, walking over to join her and collapsing beside her on the stairs.

"I've been thinking about yesterday…" she murmured, partially to herself as if airing her thoughts out loud. She reached for her satchel and pulled out the little box Lynn had given her, and the amulet Aqua had received when Terra and Mel were turned into a bear and a wolf. "I can't help but shake the feel they're connected somehow. But I still can't get inside this…" she frowned, turning the box over in her hands a little forlornly.

Ven wished he could say something helpful, and instead blurted out, "Have you tried dowsing or getting your tarot cards out?"

Mel's face fell further, and he wished he hadn't said anything. "Some of the cards are still a bit damaged, and I can't find all of the knucklebones…I did try to do a card reading, but I couldn't get any answers." She looked quite upset, which hurt Ven even more when he thought about the way the castle had been vandalised. "I think I'll have to find a replacement set of cards. I can't use those anymore." She sighed and closed her eyes, but opened them again when Leo nosed his way over, wide-eyed and comforting. "You look ridiculous," she told him gently, ruffling up the remaining feathers on his neck and tugging at the looser ones with his winter coat while he hummed contentedly. "There, you must be stifling hot under all those feathers."

Leo grunted his assent and settled down by their feet, flicking his tail to sweep the pile of moulted feathers away into the wind.

Ven tried to remain positive, but Mel's melancholy was starting to drag him down too, and he scratched Leo's ratty coat absently for something to do.

"You look a bit sad." Mel said out of the blue, and Ven managed a smile.

"I just…I dunno, I've got a bad feeling, but I don't know about what…"

"Oh," Mel looked up at the clear blue sky above them. "I thought that was just me. I think I'm becoming paranoid."

"Why?"

Mel took a while to answer. Eventually, she said, "I feel…responsible. And…I wish there was more that I could do, but I know I can't be everything for everyone, or all things to all people. I can only be me, and I feel completely inadequate…"

"Don't say that," Ven insisted, setting the eagle feather aside. Mel picked it up instead, and threaded it through her fingers. "You're good at loads of stuff!"

"And I also brought a certain amount of hardship and drama into your lives when I came along." She said with an uncomfortably hard edge to her voice that didn't sound at all like her. "I just dumped you with all of my problems, and on top of that a dragon that no one knows exactly what to do with or how to deal with the situation it gives rise to. It's just not fair on you guys…"

"And would it be fair on you to have to handle him all by yourself, without other Keyblade wielders to back you up?" Ven added.

Mel smiled apologetically, and then laughed at herself. "I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill again, aren't I?" she asked, waving the feather through the air and listening to the sound it made as it went.

"Just a little." Ven grinned at her. "We don't hold it against you, by the way. Having Leo around is awesome, right boy?"

Leo croaked in response, tail thumping against the ground happily, though in a muted display of affection since the sun was still too hot for him.

"If you had to leave I'd cry." Ven told her, hoping to get a smile from her.

Mel's sad expression squeezed his heart in uncomfortable ways. "If I had to leave, I'd cry. I don't know _what _I'd do…"

"Well, good thing you're not leaving us, then!" Ven tried to laugh, but it sounded a bit forced. She wasn't _really_ considering leaving them…was she?

Mel smiled brilliantly, and his fears were eased. "Not unless you want or need me to."

"No way!"

Leo raised his head and grunted with annoyance that she even _dared_ to suggest such an idea out loud.

"Don't worry, I wasn't thinking about it." Mel smiled, taking his head in her hands and hugging him tight while the great dragon crooned happily. "I was actually thinking about what Bahamut said to us about you, and what that Shaman said to Aqua. And about this box Lynn gave me," she added, lifting it up in one hand.

"Did you try dowsing on it?" Ven asked.

"Yes, and I can't."

"Huh?" He blinked.

"Oh – when you information dowse you should always start with questions like 'can I-', 'may I-', 'should I-' dowse for a particular thing. And every time I ask about this box I get the search response, which usually means either I'm being interfered by something that's not beneficial to me, or I shouldn't be asking those questions at all. Which really is a bit of a pain, because it means I have to work out how to get inside it the old fashioned way."

Ven leaned over to take a look, and she showed it to him. "Any ideas?"

"I've handed it over to Lea, and he said he'd think about it before he has a go. I hope we can find something. Lynn said she was instructed to give this box to someone, with three signs to tell her who the correct person was, and one of them was Leo." She frowned again, looking distressed. "I feel so sorry for her…"

Ven looked at the space between his shoes, also feeling intensely sorry for Lynn. "I can't even imagine…"

Mel carefully put the box back into her satchel. "She's really distressed." She said softly. "She's good at putting a bravado on, but every time I go near her I have to make a shield to keep the negative energy back. She's full of frustration and anger, but I don't know how I could possibly help her."

"What about energy healing?" Ven asked, but she shook her head.

"Nobodies have a different energy system, they _have_ to because they lack certain centre points. Even her meridians are different to ours, though I can't begin to understand how it all holds together. With emotions slowly returning to her, she's mostly going to feel all the negatives at first. It _is_ comforting to know she's taking the threat seriously by being careful about the Keyblade, but really I don't think she's really a danger to us. Her moral compass is too strong for her to go do something damaging to the worlds…"

Ven sighed and massaged his temples. "Why does being a Keyblade Warrior have to be so complicated…" he groaned. "Sometimes I wish the world didn't need us, and there weren't any Heartless or Nobodies or _anything_ like that."

"Well, the World was like that once. And then the Keyblade War happened." Mel said rather simply, as if that settled the matter. "Much as I sometimes hate having to face up to my duties," she raised her hands and summoned her keyblades, studying them both closely; the green and purple harp-flute shape, and the rainbow brand of circles. "But if it's not me, then it's just going to be someone else, so why not me? Besides," she smiled warmly up at Ven, and he smiled back. "I have great friends who look out for me, and I have Leo. I'm pretty lucky, all things considered." But as she said this, her face fell again, and she looked at the ground with a sigh.

Ven guessed where he thoughts were headed. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Even if he's a complete idiot, like Kyo keeps insisting, he's still my cousin. I can't stand his temper or his arrogance at times, but I love him all the same. I want my family back…"

Ven didn't know what to say to cheer her up, so he put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into his embrace, laying her cheek against his shoulder and sighed.

"And now I'm whining, as if that is going to help…" she murmured softly, mocking herself.

"Whine all you like. I do all the time,"

Mel stifled a laugh and said, "I wouldn't want to inflict you with my grievances."

"Inflict them all you want. Hey, what're friends for, right?"

Mel did laugh this time, and what she said next took him by surprise. "I wish I'd met you sooner."

"Huh?" he blinked, looking down at her. That was a bit random, even for Mel. Her eyes were closed, and she had a serene smile on her face. "What d'you mean?"

"I feel like I can talk to you, and I always feel safe with you. I wish I had known you three, years ago. Maybe I wouldn't have felt so lonely when I was travelling, if…" but she didn't finish the thought out loud.

Ven just sat back and enjoyed the peaceful moment, because he doubted it would last for long, and was proved right when he heard a loud clanking noise and the tell tale sounds of a suit of armour being either summoned or banished.

"Get off your lazy arse you bag of feathers!" Rhiannon's lilting accent thundered through the air, making Leo start and jump to his feet in alarm, sending a cloud of feathers as he went. "And you!" she rounded on Ven and Mel as they scrambled to get up and see what was going on. Rhiannon was stood with her Keyblade in hand, eyes tight with worry. "Where the hell's your Master?"

"You can't come here and talk to us like that!" Ven said angrily. "What gives you the right?" but Mel ran from his side to stand in front of Rhiannon without a trace of fear of her anger.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

"What happened? Shit happened, that's what!" Rhiannon was severely wound up. "Some Heartless program or sometin' on the computer messin' tings around on the network, and regular Heartless all over the town! Where the hell's Aqua?"

"Dunno," Ven was startled by this revelation. "She went for a walk," he pointed at the path she had taken earlier. "Terra went with her."

"Well go get them then and get your backsides over to Radiant Garden on the double!" it seemed in her panic Rhiannon was more blunt than usual, and Ven guessed her could forgive her for it.

"Leo, go get the others and bring them here," Mel said, and he nodded before launching himself into the air, spraying them all with more moulting.

"And can you do sometin' about those damn feathers?" Rhiannon snapped, stalking across the courtyard.

"Sadly, I think that's beyond my control." Mel murmured so quietly that only Ven could hear her.

As seemed everything else in this life.

XOXOX


	24. The Assault of Radiant Garden

**AN: wahooo only a week, I'm on the ball again! XD and dead pleased with how easily it flowed this time – except towards the end, which brings another interesting point to this author's note:**

**Let us all take a moment to bow down and worship the awesomeness and sheer, absolute GENIUS that is **HeartofFyrwinde** who basically handed me an evil doers monologue on a platter of gold with silver in lay and also encrusted with precious stones of varying but large sizes :D this chapter would have flopped without your input (and thus been delayed! :O ) and so, good sir, I raise my hat, glass and recreational sword to you!**

**Now that I have grovelled my base gratitude sufficiently, ON WITH THE SHOW! :D **

**(You could also always go to **HeartofFyrwinde**'s profile and check out their own stories as well, which are awesome by the way ;) )**

**And as ever, your feedback, favourites and follows are all greatly appreciated :)**

_**The Assault of Radiant Garden**_

Leo landed heavily against the paving stones of the plaza, cracking them with the force of his dive and pinning the struggling Heartless to the ground with a roar before it was dispatched. Leon was getting to his feet as Aqua and Terra ran to his side, Ven and Mel perched on Leo's back still and scouting the area for further enemies.

"About time," Leon said, wiping a trickle of sweat from his brow.

"Sorry," Aqua said, a bit breathless. They had been attacked as they attempted to entire this world, which had really worried her – who knew what was going on in the town? "What can we do?"

"They're massing in the town and the gorge." Leon informed them as Leo stomped over, his posture tense and ready to spring if need be. "There's a bug in the system that's making the defence mechanisms turn against us. Luckily the claymores only show up around the Heartless, but you still need to watch yourself."

"Hey!" They looked up to see Sora and Riku racing towards them, Kairi just behind. "We got here as soon as could!" Sora explained, stopping for just a moment to catch his breath before demanding, "What happened? Is Tron okay?"

"I don't know. Lea should be on route to Disney Castle to fetch Donald and Goofy right now. Get yourself over to the computer room and wait for them there. Don't go onto the grid without them, its way too dangerous." Leon said sternly, and Aqua almost smiled at Sora's disappointment.

"But Tron might be in real trouble!"

"Think how much worse off he'll be if you get hurt on your way to him without backup." Terra said quickly, and Sora bowed his head in defeat.

They split up quickly into groups after being briefed; Sora went pelting off towards the castle with Kairi and Ven, while Riku ran towards the gorge with Terra, Cloud, Cid and Rhiannon in tow. Aqua and Mel were going to stay in the town with Leo to protect people while they were evacuated from areas where the Heartless were roaming, but their first mission seemed to be to convince Kyo and his friends to leave with the other townsfolk.

Leo stood crouched with his wings extended, watching with all of his senses stretched to their fullest extent while people filed past, and Kyo argued vehemently with Mel.

"I won't go!" he fairly shouted at his sister, who was showing the strain.

"You have to," she tried to be reasonable, and Aqua knew her patience was wearing thin. "It's too dangerous out here,"

"So why won't _you_ go too?" he demanded petulantly.

"Kyo, we need Mel's help. There are plenty of good fighters, but we need as many Keyblades around as possible." Aqua hoped that she could help persuade him to leave, but Joey was stood at his elbow and folded his arms with a glower that seemed to strengthen Kyo's resolve.

"I'm never allowed to help. You're always the ones in danger,"

"That's because it's our job," Mel said wearily. "But you can help us too, without fighting."

"How?" he demanded petulantly.

"You can help the people being evacuated." Mel reasoned, and Ashy cottoned on to the idea instantly. "I'm sure Leon would appreciate the help, and you're good with people,"

"Kyo, I really think we should get going," Ashy said, giving him a shove, but he was so tall and by extension heavier than her that she didn't make much headway, and he blinked down at her with surprise.

"But-!"

"Mel's right!"

"But-!" Joey tried to interject, but he was interrupted as Ansem swept onto the scene, looking flustered.

"There you are! Cid told you to leave with the others, why are you three still here?" he asked, and they all stared at him guiltily.

"Please, Kyo! I don't want you in the thick of it," Mel pleaded with him. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Kyo looked from his sister, to Aqua, and finally to Ansem, who gave him a stern look that reminded her of Master Eraqus when he wasn't prepared to put up with such stalling tactics. He sighed and gave Mel a frustrated look before saying, "Only if you promise you'll come back in one piece!"

Mel smiled and said, "I think I can manage that."

"Now, off with you. _All three _of you," Ansem added sternly, and they scampered off at the end of the procession, Tiggy bouncing at Ashy's heels with a plaintive whine.

"We'd better watch to make sure they're not followed," Aqua said, looking over her shoulder at Leo, who had dropped to a crouch and was hissing through his bared teeth.

It was just enough warning for them to brace themselves for the explosion through a thick brick wall to their left and the Heartless that poured out of the resulting hole. Leo dashed past them and stood himself squarely in the middle of the narrow street down which the people had escaped, and bared his fangs menacingly as the first Soldier Heartless advanced, and suddenly stopped and milled around in a panic when faced with such an obstacle. Aqua ran into the fray, and Mel stood by to protect Ansem, both trusting Leo to act as a blockade.

"Heads up!" someone shouted, and Aqua jerked her chin up to see Lynn racing across the roof tops towards them, letting arrows fly as she went, a few into the adjacent streets as she went before kicking up what looked like a satellite dish and using it to slide down a steeply sloped roof before jumping clear of it at the last moment and letting the dish slam into a Heartless that had been about pounce on Leo. The poor thing didn't see it coming, and was sent flying into the opposite wall were it slumped and disappeared in a shifting shadow of darkness.

"Awright?" Lynn asked, drawing another arrow and taking aim before letting the string twang back into place; another Heartless dropped like a fly. Just then, a claymore came zooming up the street, and she whacked it with her bow as it went by, trying to mount an attack and collapsing on itself on contact from the blow. "Oh, just _sod off_ already!"

As they fought, they had to back up against the encroaching tide, and Ansem couldn't get past without being battered, so he had to stay with them, instead of running to check on the others as he had planned to do. When it became clear they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon Lynn yanked her daggers from her belt and tossed them to him before drawing another arrow that landed in one of the now familiar, deer-like Heartless with the grotesquely distorted zebra patterned stripes.

"Do you have enough ammunition?" Ansem asked, taking a swipe at a Shadow that got past Mel's guard and was making its was towards Leo's snapping jaws.

Lynn tapped her quiver and grinned wildly. "Spell of infinite holding. I have tonnes of the stuff, some of them are complete crap but they'll do the job. In no danger of running out at the moment."

Aqua gritted her teeth, wishing either they had more back up or the relentless waves of Heartless would at least diminish in size – and those infernal claymores were seriously hampering their efforts. These Heartless were the weaker varieties, which shouldn't have been too much for them to handle – but it was the sheer _quantity _that pelted them so relentlessly that had Aqua worried. Of course, Bahamut's summoning crystal was in a pouch at her waist, but she was reluctant to call him forth just yet. They had practised, but no one was _really _capable with the ability just yet, and they hadn't had time to pick up any more before leaving, so Bahamut was their only Scion to hand. Also, she doubted the town could house both Bahamut and Leo at the same time – the Keyblade Dragon was big enough, but the Scion was even bigger, and any attacks he dealt could flatten the buildings around them. Aqua had a feeling she should have given the crystal to Terra before they split up – maybe in the gorge it would be a safe possibility…

Mel danced into the crowd of dark creatures, using her speed and agility to dodge their attacks and hacked into their ranks with a few spells she had been working diligently on recently, sending the Heartless flying in all directions. She was doing quite well, but the roof of a nearby building caved in from the blast of several claymores exploding together at once, and the dust cloud it sent billowing around them hindered their efforts enough to allow a few smaller Heartless to sneak past them. The ground shook unexpectedly, and everyone – Heartless included – fell to their knees. Aqua tried to help Ansem up as they recovered their footing, and her heart leapt into her throat as a breath of wind cleared the dust to reveal Lynn poised with one foot braced against the rubble of the wall, her bow trained on them both and a lethal look in her eyes. She took very careful aim, and time seemed to stand still for an age while her fingers let go of the arrow. Aqua was frozen in place, heart pounding, and she closed her eyes for a moment, not wanting to believe what her eyes saw.

She heard the _whiz _and _thock_ of the arrow, felt the wind of it ruffle her hair, and opened her eyes to see Lynn's look of intense and giddy relief. Behind Aqua and Ansem, a Heartless was laying sprawled on the ground, a flashing white arrow quivering in its neck. It twitched horribly, but Leo locked his jaws about it and gave a sharp twist that dispatched it quickly.

Lynn laughed weakly, and Aqua stared back at her with light-headed amazement. "That could have gone wrong in so many different ways its not even funny…" she said, reaching for a new arrow. "Sorry 'bout that, gov," she added merrily, standing up and launching her projectile into the air, bringing an Air Pirate down as it tried to swoop in and attack Leo from above.

Aqua stood up, trying to get her bearings, still reeling from the shock of the tremors and what she had thought was Lynn's attack. Mel turned sharply on the spot, looking up at the sky, and shouted, "Duck!"

"Where?" Lynn spun round, and caught sight of the bright red gummi ship headed in their direction. "Hit the deck!"

Aqua prepared to spring back, but she felt something hit her hard and then the cushion of soft feathers, a few longer and more ratty than the rest, against her skin as the world spun round and round. Once Leo released her, she sprang to her feet and Mel right behind her, and Ansem just picking himself up off the ground. The Heartless seemed to have fled for now, and while Leo stood his ground and watched with narrowed eyes, the rest of them ran towards the ship. The doors opened as they approached, and Goofy fell out looking very dizzy indeed as he stepped out of the unevenly parked ship onto the rubble strewn ground.

"Gawrsh," he said, his head spinning. "That was a bit bumpy…"

Mickey ran out behind him, looking worried. "Oh no!" he saw the scene of chaos around them and demanded, "Is anybody hurt?!"

"They've been evacuated." Aqua explained. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Donald flew out of the ship next, knocking the King over in his haste. "Where's Lea?!" he looked around wildly, and it suddenly occurred to Aqua she hadn't seen him yet.

"Wasn't he with you?" she asked quickly as Leo padded over, his stance predatory as he watched out for the Heartless.

"Well, he _was_," Goofy said anxiously, looking around. "He was usin' that there Keyblade doohickey thing – umm…"

"_Glider_!" Donald hissed angrily.

"Yup!" Goofy nodded. "That's it! Said it would be easier for him find the others real quick if he went separately, but we were attacked on the way here. Dunno where he coulda got to now…"

Aqua frowned as she tried to plan their next move. They couldn't stay here, that much was certain; Heartless, earth tremors, and the structural integrity of the surrounding buildings was now heavily compromised.

"Watch it!" Lynn shouted, whipping her bow out and launching an arrow at Goofy. He shrieked in surprised, and it caught his hat as it flew by, but it neatly dispatched the Heartless that had been about to attack him from behind. Lynn pulled a face and bit her lip, hunching her shoulders as she said in a small voice, hand raised in a placating gesture of surrender, "Sorry about the hat…"

"We have to move," Aqua said decisively, thinking about their options.

"Someone needs to make sure the people got away safely," Mel chipped in, her eyes tight with worry.

"We'll see to that!" Mickey volunteered helpfully.

"Gawrsh, we've gotta get to Tron!" Goofy said to Donald.

"Then what are we still here for?!"

Aqua looked between Mel and Lynn before making a decision. "Ansem, if you could go with Mickey? Mel, you and Leo come with me – we can check no one's been left behind, and then we can see if we can find Lea. Lynn, would you go with these two and make sure they get to the castle?"

Lynn saluted in response, and when Ansem approached her about the daggers she said, "Do return them, if you can. I'm not too fussed about the condition at this point," she was probably about to say more, but the ground was rocked again by a deep tremor that made loud, buckling noises groan out from the nearby buildings.

"We should get going," Mel said quickly, deeply agitated. "_Now_."

XOXOX

"We're here!" Goofy shouted, falling over the threshold.

"_There_ you are!" Sora shouted back, keyed up with nerves. "C'mon! Tron's in real trouble!"

Donald and Lynn raced into the room, and she slammed the door behind her. "Better safe than sorry," was all she said when Kairi stared at the motion wide eyed. "So who's going in?"

"Us three," Sora waved at himself and his two friends as they converged with him.

"We'll guard the room," Ven said, taking a defensive stance with Kairi.

"Right, if you guys are good here I'll go back into town and see what I can do there. You'll be all right?"

Ven gave a dull, annoyed look in response, and Lynn bristled.

"Well _excuse me _for giving a crap about whether you get eaten alive by the Heartless or not!"

"We should be fine," Kairi said, turning to Ven. "Right?"

"Yeah! But," he gave Lynn a side ways look, trying to sound casual. "If you could watch the castle doors, that would be great too."

"Can do," Lynn nodded. "I'll be off. Holler if you want me," she spun on her back leg and left the room in a hurry, drawing another arrow from her quiver.

"We've gotta go now!" Sora insisted – there had been enough delays already!

"Let's go!" Goofy said, rushing into place.

"Okay," Ven frowned at the keyboard before him. "Which one was it again…?"

"You sure we can trust him to get it right?" Donald asked in a not-so-quiet undertone.

"Hey, I heard that!"

"Gawrsh…"

"I trust Ven!" Sora said indignantly.

"Oh, stop fighting!" Kairi snapped as Ven tapped away at the keyboard. "Focus!"

"You're right…sorry, Kairi." Sora gazed down at his shoes repentantly.

"Just do whatever you can to help Tron." She said more softly, with a smile.

"You got it!"

"Okay, get ready," Ven straightened up from the computer. "Be careful in there!"

Sora waved, and then winced as he felt the familiar sense of being digitised – it was something he felt he would never really get used to. It was uncomfortable, and the bright light was harsh against his closed eyelids. When the feeling went away, he opened his eyes and yelped before he ducked and rolled out of the way. He heard Donald shriek and looked up to see him narrowly avoid being hit by a beam of red light.

"Donald!"

"Waaaak!"

"Sora!"

He looked up, a bit dazed, and saw Tron running towards him looking very concerned. "Are you all right?" he dragged both Sora and Goofy to their feet, and they rushed to help Donald.

"Yeah – what about you?"

"Not so good," Tron was about to say more, but the platform they were stood on shook violently and they stumbled to regain their footing. "We've got to get out of here!"

The digital Heartless attacking them was a variant of ones Sora had seen here before, only a bit bigger and spouting different coloured laser beams this time. They dashed past, hurling a few attacks as they went, and a well-placed spell from Donald finished it off as they rounded a corner. Tron led them into an alcove, and they stayed there for a moment to catch their breaths. Sora leaned out to get a better look at their surroundings, but he felt several pairs of hands grab him and heave him back inside – moments later a troop of Heartless ran past.

"Yikes!" Sora turned to Tron, taking in his familiar appearance with a momentary feeling of joy before the reality of the situation set in. "It's good to see you again Tron! But, what _happened_?"

"Lynn's in charge of a project that's aimed at taking pictures of an unknown creature in the user world, and they've been using the main computer for a lot of the software for the cameras they developed for the task. Someone put a data stick into the computer and it let a Heartless program loose into the mainframe. She tried to stop it from spreading, but I'm afraid it was too late the moment the data came into contact with the system. We've got to track it down, otherwise the user town could be levelled!"

"But, _how_?" Sora was trying to comprehend how _one_ program could cause so much havoc. The MCP had been a _big_ program, with a lot of processing power, so it was easy to understand why it had been such a problem. But a file on a memory stick couldn't be _that_ big compared to the MCP, could it?

"It's infected the town defence system. I managed to disable the game grid before it took any further control, and the Heartless machine was decommissioned ages ago, so we don't have to worry about any more showing up,"

"But there're loads of Heartless in the town!"

"Yup, Aqua said there were more and more appearin' all the time." Goofy added.

Tron's brow furrowed, and the blue of his suit flickered for a moment in agitation, deepening in colour briefly. "That can't be good…"

"What're we gonna do?" Goofy fretted, but Sora had an answer.

"We'll start by cleaning up here. The others are outside and they can take care of the town for now. We've got to find the Heartless program and destroy it!"

"Won't we need an eradicator program like last time?" Donald asked.

"Nah, the MCP was just a computer program. This is a _Heartless _program. The Keyblade can solve this one, easy." Sora was confident of that. "Where did you last see it?"

"Near the pit cell," Tron informed them. "But we need to act fast – if it gets to the core it will spread itself throughout the system."

"Piece of cake!" Sora grinned, but faltered when Tron gave him a painful look.

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid. This program seems to be able to increase in size by absorbing other programs and the Heartless."

"What!?" they all took a step back at the new information.

"Beating it down will make it reduce in size again, but if we let it get too big we won't be able to stop it. It seems to be weaker against magic attacks, so we need to keep it from absorbing other programs at all costs."

"Roger," Sora nodded, feeling the gravity of the situation. "We'd better get going,"

"Oh, before we do," Tron produced a handful of what looked like microphones; the kind pop singers wore on stage. "Here, take one."

"Wow!" Sora was intrigued.

"What are these things?" Donald demanded, staring intently at the one in his hands.

"Kyo wrote the program for them. They let you communicate verbally and directly with whoever's at the consol in the user world." Tron explained. "Cool, aren't they?" he beamed.

"Yeah!" Sora looped his over his ear, and felt it sit comfortably against the side of his head. "Awesome!"

"_What is?"_ Kairi's voice asked, making him jump.

"Whoa!"

"I've just introduced them to the communicators Kyo made. We're about to go hunt down the program.

"_You'd better get a move on, it's really falling apart out there!"_ Ven said, sounding tense.

"We're on it!" Sora raised his hand and summoned his Keyblade. "Let's go!"

XOXOX

Terra snarled with frustration and wiped the sweat from his brow as yet another Heartless came scuttling up from the gorge bottom. It was a lowly, lizard-like thing with poisonous green markings over its black body, the Heartless insignia emblazoned on a flat plate like structure at the end of its exceedingly long tail. They weren't _that_ hard to bring down, excepting that an entire swarm of them was hard to handle with only so many hands to spare; Cloud and Cid had gone back to head a few off that had broken through their ranks and headed for the town, and Riku was doubling back to check on them while Rhiannon blasted a path periodically through those that were advancing upon them still.

"Guys!" someone hissed, and Terra turned in time to see Lynn scrambling down the path with Riku at her elbow, looking frantic. "_Stop!_"

"What on _eart_' you doing here?" Rhiannon demanded as the two of them drew level and kept on towards Terra. "I thought you said you were going to stay back to defend the town!"

"That was before I saw the thing that we may well have set the camera traps for in the first place running by!" Lynn hissed. "And Riku saw it too!"

"Just like the things that attacked us in the Pride Lands!" Riku insisted vigorously.

Terra looked over his shoulder to check for the Heartless, and was both relieved and worried to find that the last of them were retreating, and apparently with all haste.

"What's going on?"

"Shut up!" Lynn hissed, drawing an arrow and knocking it into place, diving for a rocky outcrop to hide behind. "Get down!"

They all complied; Rhiannon grumbling, and Terra with grave misgivings.

"What is it?" he hissed, battling with his nerves and the humidity that was making the fighting conditions almost unbearable.

"I don't know, but I have a horrible feeling we're about to find out." Lynn murmured, slowly getting up from her hiding place and crouching low on top of the outcrop. "If someone wants to go ahead and scout out the gorge, I'll give you some cover."

"I'll do it," Riku volunteered, but Rhiannon gave him a shove back into the shadows as he stood up.

"No, pet. You're young with everytin' goin' for ya. _I'll_ go,"

"You 'ent exactly expendable either, you…" Lynn muttered irritably as she followed Rhiannon with her bow, always a few steps worth ahead of her position as she went.

"Why, Evie, I didn't know you cared so much."

"Don't think I won't shoot you in the foot on purpose," she snapped angrily, watching the pathway carefully.

Terra signalled to Riku to stay put, and crawled out of his hiding spot to follow Rhiannon. No one said anything to encourage or dissuade him, so he carefully walked behind Rhiannon, a few paces to the left, trusting to Lynn's aim to keep him covered.

"Watch it," she hissed suddenly, and they both stopped in their tracks, tense as a pair of coiled springs.

"What?" Terra breathed.

"Just stay there a sec."

"Eaves?"

"Sssh!"

They waited with baited breath, and just when he thought the tension couldn't get any worse both Lynn and Riku shouted one after the other, and Terra spun round in time to see something black and orange tumbling towards him down the wall of the ravine, an arrow stuck in its throat that quivered with electricity.

"Heads up!"

It crashed into him and Terra hit his head on the way down. Luckily he seemed to be merely stunned, and managed to worm his way out from under his attacker and roll away before it could regain its footing. Panting, he pulled himself away stood up, taking stock of what he landed on him, stumbling as he went and blinking furiously to dispel the stars in his vision.

Some sort of cat-like creature, sleek and powerful with what looked like three separate tails conjoined at the base of its spine, and swirling orange markings trailing along the sides of its body somewhat like the markings on a leopard. It thrashed wildly, clawing at its neck where the arrow was embedded, and screamed long and loud with an eerie wail that made Terra's stomach turn and want to regurgitate. Another arrow landed in its flanks, and the thing twisted violently, screaming even louder than before. Terra managed to get close enough to land a blow, but it lashed out in fear and pain before he could even raise his weapon high enough, and felt himself slam into the wall the opposite side of the ravine, once again winded.

The creature advanced on him slowly, limping badly and something black leaking from its throat that sizzled on contact with the rocks below, small plumes of steam erupting from every drop that was spilt. Its eyes were a horrible flat yellow colour that reminded him of things he'd rather forget. Terra raised his weapon and readied himself for the assault with a snarl. The creature leapt, and he charged forward to meet it. They clashed, and Terra cried out as he felt the powerful jaws lock onto his shoulder guard, the metal screeching in protest and wrenching his arm painfully. He took the butt of his Keyblade and smacked it against the creature's temple and it reeled for a moment, but didn't let go. One forepaw connected sharply with his chest, and with extended claws it raked an agonising trio of lines down his torso.

In a panic as blood welled up from the stinging trenches left in its wake, Terra dug his heels in and spun round wildly, trying to shake the thing off. He managed to slam its back into the wall, and its grip loosened enough for him to break free, but it came after him and again went for him, aiming for his throat but getting caught on the distorted new shape of the armour on his shoulder – which was bent just so, protecting his neck from this particular angle of attack. There was another wrenching sound and a tooth came loose from its mouth, falling against his arm and landing harmlessly against the ground by his feet.

"Here!" Lynn shouted, and another arrow came zooming seemingly from nowhere, embedding itself just behind an eye.

Rhiannon's familiar Keyblade appeared mercifully above him, and dealt a heavy blow to the back of the creature's head. It let go and staggered away, screaming wetly with more sizzling blood spurting from its throat before a ball of blue and black energy hit it in the rib cage, making it fall to its knees. Terra sank to the ground, breathing hard, sweating profusely with panic and the humidity, blood trickling down his chest.

Rhiannon advanced on the creature with grim determination, and brought the flat of her Keyblade down with a devastating blow against its skull. There was a deafening _crack_ and it stirred no more.

"All right, pet?" Rhiannon asked, walking towards Terra with dogged determination. He nodded dumbly, letting her help him to his feet. "That's nasty," she peered at his ripped shirt and bleeding chest. "You'd better heal yourself up."

"Here," Riku said shakily, handing Terra a Hi-potion.

Terra stared at the boy; the collar of his shirt had been ripped almost cleanly off, and while they were superficial he still had a series of gashes under his chin that were leaking crimson down his neck.

"Are _you_ okay?" Terra demanded, and Riku nodded.

"Just a scratch. I was lucky, Lynn got it in the neck,"

"Only wish I'd got _that_ bastard sooner," Lynn was stalking towards them, limping slightly on one leg and drenched in something dark that hissed and steamed quietly, mixing with something red that was most probably human blood, though just exactly who's blood was hard to tell. "You a'right?"

"What _are_ they?" Terra asked weakly, looking over her shoulder at the two other corpses; one was lying prone with several arrows stuck in its neck at the base of the skull where a lot of important connections between the brain and the body's vital organs were found, and the other was flat on its back with a large puddle of steaming liquid pooled around its head. The one fetched with arrows had orange tiger stripes, the other green dots and streaks like an ocelot all over its body.

"Your guess is as good as ours, mate. Either way, the Heartless have cleared off from here, and I move that we high tail the hell out of here _now_," Lynn said, taking a firm grip on Terra's arm and leading him back up the path towards the town. "You need those seeing to. Riku, get going, too. Rhi?"

"I'll keep an eye out,"

"Good."

They hurried along, surprised and unnerved to find the Heartless completely absent as they went. Rhiannon yelled and they spun around, another panther-like creature running full tilt towards them, but it was cut down before it reached them by two of Lynn's arrows, a few well-timed spells, and a volley of bullets.

"All right down there?!" Cid yelled at them, waving almost merrily.

"You sir," Lynn called, waving back one handed as she heaved Terra along with her, stumbling every few steps as the initial and sharp pains gave way to a deep throbbing ache that had him gritting his teeth. "Are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and if we get out of this mess alive I'm treating you to an evening's worth of rounds at the pub, you gorgeous person-"

"Steady on!" Lea appeared on the other side of the ravine's edge with a smirk, looking rather battered himself and missing his favourite scarf. "You'll give people the wrong impression."

"He just saved our hides – that deserves booze and flattering compliments at the very least!" she shook her fist at him and then gently lowered Terra to the ground, conscious of his ailing health. "Now do something useful and get your arse down here! I can't lift Sparky here by myself."

Terra hadn't needed to be carried in this manner since he was a child, and part of him weakly rebelled at the idea even as he felt himself being lifted under the arms and helped along the path, but the pain was setting in deeply and it drove nearly everything else from his mind. He was barely aware of anything until the pain mercifully stopped, so abruptly he twisted and spun round wildly, anticipating an attack, and startling poor Aerith who was crouched beside him.

"What-?!" he demanded, his vision blurring momentarily as he stumbled back to down his knees.

"Riku came ahead to get he, he said you needed help, and then he passed out himself. Those wounds are infected with something." She explained rather calmly.

Terra blinked and looked around him; they were at the Bailey, or more precisely what was left of the Bailey. A few people with guns of varying description were around, plus Rhiannon, Riku and Lea with their Keyblade drawn. Lynn stood by sorting through her arrows, her head turned towards the path down to the ravine and the gorge at all times.

"Terra!"

He spun round again, and his head spun even further.

Aqua descended upon him with a deep look of concern, and demanded that Aerith explain what had happened. By the time she was satisfied with an answer, Mel and Leo had arrived, and they were collectively plotting their next move. Aqua tried to speak as they dispersed, but Terra knew what she was going to say and overrode her before she had a chance.

"I am _not_ going to go lie down in some infirmary with these…_things_ lurking around. Got it?" he glowered, daring her to challenge him.

Aqua didn't protest, but he saw her make a beeline for Rhiannon as Lynn ran past with Mickey and Lea, and then the tattooed woman made her way purposefully towards Terra and said, "You come with me now, pet."

Terra narrowed his eyes, touched and yet still annoyed as Aqua went sprinting off again towards the market place without looking at him.

Mel raced past and tossed a small pouch into the air, which he only just caught. "Just a pinch and inhale – not too much or it'll knock you out!" she called before Leo swept her onto his back and spread his wings for take off.

Terra stared at the little leather pouch, worn from use. He forced it open and pulled out a tiny amount of a coarsely crushed herb between his fingers. He sniffed it experimentally and gagged, but once he recovered he found his head was alarmingly clear – the pain and the healing spells, and the terrible humidity no longed felt like a collective problem. He sighed and tucked it safely away, wondering what he'd do without Mel and her many pouches.

"Ready?" Rhiannon asked, adjusting her armour that looked almost as sorry for itself as his own.

Terra took a solid stance and hefted his weapon with grim determination.

"Ready."

XOXOX

Ven watched the events unfold inside the computer system via the monitor. Granted, it displayed diagrams of energy output and the percentage of CPU usage, and also provided a visual for the voice harmonics of those wearing the communicators inside, as well as an ever re-scrambling message that detailed their locations. Ven was worried that if the rogue program got hold of that data it would track them down and delete them, but Lynn had set up a fail safe that scramble the code (or whatever the hell it was) that detailed and displayed the information every few seconds, and the moment it was breached the program would automatically shut itself down, and start deleting itself without a back up. It was all actually rather clever, but that did little to make Ven feel this was a done deal.

Kairi hovered by his shoulder, nervously watching their progress with him. It felt like the Heartless program kept growing too big for comfort, and only through what appeared to be sheer luck, each time it neared a particular mass they managed to do something to cut it back down to size. The first was Sora panicking and pulling on a Drive Form before hacking it repeatedly until it diminished severely in size again; the second Donald and Goofy performed a joint attack that nearly knocked the former unconscious. Then a procession of near accidents seemed to save them each time, including Sora tripping over his own shoes and Tron apparently running headlong into a wall.

While all that was going on inside the computer, Ven tired to keep an ear out for the situation _outside_ the computer room. Yuffie had dropped by to tell them Lynn had abandoned her post to follow _something_ – and she couldn't tell them what. Much as she had probably felt at the time this thing needed tailing, it left them with fewer defences, and Ven was getting very edgy. Especially when periodically there was a deep, grating noise from far away and it felt like the ground was trembling, though thankfully that hadn't happened for a while now. What if the Heartless broke into the castle? If this room and the computer were taken they were all done for.

Just when he was starting to despair, Ven jumped when he heard Mickey's voice from behind.

"What's goin' on, fellas?"

"Mickey!" Ven spun round, relieved to have some back up. "Is everything okay in the town?"

"Kinda. Ansem and Cid disabled the claymores to stop them from attackin' folks. The Heartless seem to have started retreating, but some of the others were attacked by creatures that definitely _aren't_ Heartless. We still don't know what they are, or if there are any more around. Lynn asked us to come back to defend the castle after she saw one at the Postern."

"Was anyone hurt?" Kairi asked, worried.

"A few scratches, but nothing we couldn't fix. So how're things here?"

"The program's on the run, but they're really struggling." Ven reported. "There's little we can do to help except defend the room."

"Hrmm…" Mickey advanced further into the room and gazed thoughtfully at the screen. "Anyway we can speak to 'em?"

"Like this," Ven said, reaching for the button on the microphone and pressing it. "Hey guys, still okay?"

"_We've got it cornered!" _Donald exclaimed with wild abandon.

"_Here it goes!"_ Sora's voice called.

"_Careful, Sora!"_ Goofy fretted, and there was a static interference before he shouted, _"WAAHHH!"_ and all went silent.

"Oh no!" Mickey cried, and Ven and Kairi rushed forward calling their names.

"_We're all right!"_ Tron called as calmly as he could. _"Can you stand, Sora?"_

"Sora!" Kairi cried nervously. "Can you hear me?"

"_That didn't work."_ He said lamely, and Ven could imagine him scratching his head with a bemused look.

"What happened?" Mickey demanded.

"_Well, your Majesty,"_ Goofy explained as another tremor rocked the foundations of the castle. _"Sora tried to use the Keyblade to destroy the Heartless program, but it sorta back fired…"_

"_I don't get it!"_ Sora said, rather flustered and angry with himself. _"It's still just a Heartless, right? That should've been enough!"_

Ven frowned. "What did you do?"

"_I tried to use the power of Light – but it sort of blocked me before I could get a real shot in."_

They all stood in tense silence, trying to figure out where it had gone wrong, and suddenly Mickey bounced on the spot with inspiration.

"What if _we_ sent a beam into the computer through the portal? Four Keyblades should be enough to blast that Heartless program."

"Hey, that might work!" Ven turned to Kairi to get her opinion, and she grinned and nodded eagerly.

"_Wahh!"_ came the combined voice of the group inside the computer.

"What is it?" Ven demanded, spinning round to focus on the screen.

"_It's getting bigger_ fast_!"_ Goofy told them.

"_What was that you said about the Keyblade just know?"_ Tron asked.

"If we can time it right and send a blast from our Keyblades into the system, you can direct it at the program, Sora." Ven explained.

"_That's a long shot!"_ Donald complained, but a particularly violent tremor rocked not only the town and castle, but the computer world too.

"_It's worth a try!"_ Sora said decisively. _"When we have it right where we want it I'll give you a signal, then we'll blast it!"_

The three of them turned to face the portal mounted on the wall, and Ven kept his fingers hovering over the relevant keys that would start the machine. They waited, tense and ready to react as they listened to the running commentary the other four gave them. It sounded like hard, dangerous work, and a few times Ven was sure they were going to lose, but each time they managed to slide out of harms way by one means or another.

After nearly twenty-five minutes of this seesawing, Tron shouted, _"We're almost ready, start the portal!"_

Ven hit the command buttons and stood beside Kairi, with Mickey on her other side, and raised his Keyblade. "We're ready when you are!" he informed them.

"_Almost…"_ Sora said, deeply focused on the task at hand.

Ven stood with the others, poised for the attack.

"_Now!"_

As one, the three of them let lose a shaft of light from their Keyblades, which combined into a single beam and shot straight through the portal into the computer. The monitor protested at the influx of energy and power and the readings went momentarily haywire. It was now down to Sora, and they waited anxiously, still feeding the attack into the computer.

When Ven felt the connection severe, he turned to look at the screen, just in time to hear Sora whooping loudly in celebration.

"_Hey, did you see that!?"_

"_We did it!"_ Goofy cried with glee.

"_Thank you!"_ Tron said over the sounds of the other three goofing off. _"We couldn't have done it without your help!"_

"Yes!" Ven pumped his fist into the air before high fiving Kairi.

Thank goodness for that!

Ven now felt deep and intense sympathy for Aqua and her position, and he sincerely hoped _he_ never ascended as far as High Master. Being left in charge of this operation, as well as just baby-sitting in general was more than his poor nerves could take…

XOXOX

Ansem picked himself off the ground and dusted himself down as Lynn stalked over with ire in her eyes, covered in dirt and a dark stain she claimed was the blood from those creatures that had attacked them in the ravine.

"Okay, _what_ is with the ground shaking?" she snapped indignantly, having fallen over a few more times then her pride could take in the last few minutes.

"We disabled many of the defence systems when they started attacking the people, but there are a few underground systems we couldn't reach from here. That is probably what is causing the tremors." He explained calmly, accepting her proffered hand to help him to his feet.

"Isn't that sort of mega bad?" she demanded, hefting her quiver. "Dammit, I'm just starting to run low. No more Holy spells left…"

"Hey!"

They looked up to see Riku and Lea running up the path towards them. Both had a few bumps and scratches, and Riku had suffered some more heavy injuries around his neck, but he seemed to be bearing up.

"You still alive then?" she asked bracingly, slinging her quiver back into place and playing with an arrow fletched with bright red feathers and tipped with a gold coloured point.

"No, I'm actually a zombie here. Luckily the kid knew some necromancy, so when I died-"

Riku gave the man a dig in the ribs. "Shut up!"

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" he asked with innocent carelessness.

"I don't know why I bother." Lynn said blandly, eyes half closed and looking rather bored. Then she straightened up and her gaze became sharp and keen. "Any news?"

"Well, the Heartless are still sort of _around_, but they're not attacking as much. Cloud said he found an alley way full of them and they just stood there staring at him without making a move."

"How're the others doing on the grid?" Riku demanded quickly as Lea paused to draw breath.

Lynn jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the castle. "Better go see for yourself. Just got here, and I reckon we should stick around for the moment to keep the doors safe." Riku left without another word or a backwards glance. "Kay, bye then." Lynn muttered to herself listlessly.

"Any more bright ideas?" Lea asked her lazily.

"Huh. Just hang round, wait for our doom, snatch it from the jaws of defeat. You know, the usually crap." Lynn said, her tone rather blasé, though something about her stance suggested she felt otherwise. "So! Your Wiseness," she turned to Ansem, her expression suddenly more calculating. "Is this place defensible without me – or shall I stick around?"

"Aww, c'mon! Don't go just yet," Lea said teasingly. "I just got here!"

"Oh dear, you hear that?" she cupped her hand to her ear dramatically and leaned away from him. "That sounds like the screech of the wild Rhiannon, calling for its kindred spirit right before she surgically removes its soul before eating it with ketchup. That may be my cue to _scram_," she started to walk away, but Lea's laughter had her stalking back. "Oh, what now?"

"You naturally weird? Or did you work on it as an act?" he demanded, eyes blazing with mischief.

"I'll have you know!" Lynn gestured imperiously. "I was born weird, and I spent my entire life dedicated to perfecting my innate weirdness!"

Ansem saw something moving in the very corner of his vision, and he spun round to intercept whatever it was – only to find Kyo standing rather awkwardly in the act of sneaking past.

"Kyo! What on earth are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Um," the boy bit his lips and tried to avoid his eye. "I- erm…well…"

"Oi!" Lynn stomped over, having noticed, and put a hand on his shoulder like a vice. "Weren't you told by a dozen different people to _stay out of trouble_? Think how much worry you're gonna cause your sister when she finds out. This 'ent the time to play the hero."

"But-!" Kyo tried to retort, but obviously hadn't thought of a comeback. "I wanted to help Mel…" he admitted.

"And you could've helped her plenty by staying out of the way and helping to look after the other kids." Lynn said with surprising patience, considering her earlier irritation.

"You march right back where you came from," Lea began, but Lynn shook her head.

"Miracle he got this far without getting hurt – and you want to send him _back_?"

Ansem considered the options open to them, and suggested, "Perhaps we could send him inside to the computer room where Riku and the others are. He'll be safer there than out here."

"Good idea! C'mon Kyo, the Master has spoken." She started herding him along, but Kyo lashed out and twisted free of her grip.

"I'm not a little kid! I can get there without you holding my hand!" he snapped angrily, upset and shamefaced that he had been caught, and possibly because he didn't want Mel to worry over him.

"Awright, get going then," Lynn pointed at the castle doors. "And don't think about running off when my back's turned – yeah, I know _exactly _what you're thinking. I was a teenager once too, and I know _all_ the tricks in the book, and that's got to be by far the oldest. Scoot!" she watched closely as Kyo hung his head in defeat and shuffled off towards the castle.

"Don't go _too _hard on him, right?" Lea said half jokingly to Ansem as Lynn folded her arms and tapped her foot when Kyo looked over his shoulder surreptitiously to check if she was bluffing, and sagging in defeat when he saw she wasn't.

Ansem sighed and shook his head, a slight smile creasing his lips. "I'll have to think if _something_." He turned to face Lea. "So the situation in the town is under control?"

"Dunno," Lea shrugged grandly. "Not much of a control if you ask-"

"Run!" Lynn shouted suddenly, and they both looked up sharply.

Kyo turned round and saw the figure running towards him and yelped before he broke into a sprint – and straight into a Large Body Heartless with such force he fell over backwards. The new comer laughed loudly and sauntered over as Lynn ran towards him, Lea dashing after her.

"Hey! Let me go!" Kyo protested as he was hoiked to his feet roughly, clutching Hester's bag protectively to his chest.

Ansem recognised his attacker as the one Sora and Riku called Pete, who often sided with the Heartless only to make a real pigs ear of things; the outfit and the ears looked rather familiar to a colourful description Sora had once given. He laughed rather thuggishly and made a not so playful swipe at Kyo's shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Heheh! You sure don't look that tough, pipsqueak!"

"Oi, dickhead!" Lynn shouted, and as Pete turned with an annoyed look towards the source of the insult his face came into contact with the broader part of her bow, and he shrieked in surprise, letting Kyo go at the same time. "Get him inside!" Lynn hissed to Lea who drew level with them and kept on running, dragging Kyo behind him by the arm. "Hey you!" Lynn shouted again, and he turned on her while Lea slipped easily through the building ranks of Heartless and beyond.

"Wha- huh? Grah! How dare you speak to me like that you little twerp!"

"Try picking on someone your own size! Although," her eyes flashed for a moment and a smirk found its way onto her face. "By the looks of it you already did, but you ate them."

Ansem was tempted to laugh, but he had always been of the school of thought that one didn't poke such petty fun about other people's appearance. Although he had to admit, Pete's reaction was quiet entertaining.

"Bah! I'll show you!"

"Really? Cause I don't really see that happening sometime this century – and the next one doesn't look too good either,"

"Gah! _Attack_!" Pete shouted, pointing at Lynn.

She sprang out of the way, doing a mistimed cartwheel but managing to roll back onto her feet out of the firing line as the Heartless advanced. She had taken care to retreat away from Ansem, which was touching, but he wasn't about to leave her to fend them off by herself.

"Look, I gave you a chance to retreat to safety-" she began when she saw him approaching in a tired tone.

"Which I chose to ignore." He said with a smile, reaching for his borrowed daggers.

"Your loss mate," she said with a shrug, spinning back out of the way and smacking her bow into a Soldier that went flying. "I'm the only one lacking the thing these guys are after anyway,"

It was a surprisingly short fight – short, because as they were just gearing up and getting into the swing of it, there was a loud sound like someone snapping their fingers, and the Heartless drew to a stand still. They both looked up, a bit startled by the sudden change in behaviour, and Ansem recognised yet another face looking down upon them from higher up – the witch Maleficent.

"Whoa, who's the hag?" Lynn asked bluntly, watching her intently while the Heartless started to encircle them, apparently ignorant of her identity.

"Lynn, focus!"

"Huh? Oh-!" she swallowed whatever curse she had been about to utter, and instead went with, "…_Nutmeg,_" in a low hiss

"Silence, you insolent fool!" the witch demanded, waving a hand and conjuring up yet more Heartless around them.

"Well! – Bollocks." Lynn said lamely, training her loaded arrow from one heartless to another. "Think we need back up?" she said more quietly.

"It certainly looks that way," Ansem said as calmly as he could, hoping that Kyo was out of danger by now.

"I said _silence_!"

"Yeah!" Lynn switched arrows quickly and carefully, and wasn't too fussed about where it was trailed now. "See lady, there's something I should probably tell you. I'm actually a Nobody, right? Which means I can't actually feel fear, so you'll forgive me for not quaking in my boots at the sound of your mighty booming voice."

"You _dare _mock me? Do you know who I am?!"

"Not really, and it might just break your heart to hear this but I don't actually have it in me to _care_ either." When she had finished speaking Lynn leant backwards and pointed her bow straight up and let the arrow loose. It shot into the sky and exploded into a firework of every possible colour you could imagine, and rather than fade it stayed and shimmered above them like a beacon.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Don't you like it? Y'know Ansem! I've been meaning to tell you, this castle of yours needs a little redecorating!"

Ansem was sure she was up to something, but couldn't possibly fathom it until he saw her eyes dart towards the pathway back into town, linger for a moment, and then dart back to him and mouth something – and then it clicked into place. That arrow was effectively a beacon.

"I hardly think now is the time," he said, playing along.

"Guys!" They both looked up in time to see Sora racing across the Postern with Riku and Ven. The three of them hacked their way into the circle of Heartless, and the ones that didn't get hit retreated, much to Maleficent's annoyance.

"We saw the firework," Riku explained when they reached them. "What happened?"

"That happened," Lynn jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the witch above their head, fuming.

"Argh!" Sora sank into a fighting stance. "Maleficent!"

Lynn's expression froze, and her eyes grew wide. "_That's _the evil witch feared throughout the worlds because of her magic and evilness?"

"Yeah, that's her," Sora said defiantly, not taking his eyes off her.

Lynn sighed deeply. "Great, just great. A memo of warning would have been _nice_, life!"

"Pete!" Maleficent snapped, and he sprang to attention. "Get them!"

"I'm on it, boss!"

"Ha!" Sora grinned fiercely. "This is gonna be easy!"

"Don't do anything stupid," Ven warned him as he went sprinting into the fray, Riku at his heels.

"Save some for us!" Terra came pelting round the corner with Rhiannon and they both skidded into the Postern to help

It took very little time to bring Pete down, especially when they heard a familiar roar from above, and Leo dropped out of the sky and landed right beside him. He stared up at the beast dumfounded, and Leo snarled, exposing all of his formidable looking teeth. Pete stood in a sort of trance, staring up at the young dragon, who crouched down low and whipped his tail around to smack him round the side of the head before anyone else could get a strike in. Pete teetered for a moment before his balance went completely, and fell over backwards. When he pulled himself up, Mel had already slid from Leo's back, and the dragon roared before stamping his feet and advancing a few paces. Pete yelped and retreated, falling over himself in his attempt to run away.

"You haven't seen the last of me!" he shouted once his confidence returned, shaking a fist at them. "I'll get you yet!"

"Don't you ever get tired of saying that?" Sora shouted after him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Why you!" Pete turned to face them again stamping his own feet in anger. "Try a load of _this_!"

Sora's face went blank with shock, right before Ven tackled him to the ground to avoid the huge ball of magic that was thrown at him. Once they had all picked themselves off the ground in the wake of the attack, Ansem saw even more Heartless running past them towards the town.

"No!"

"Let's get'em, Sora!" Goofy called, running past across the Postern, followed by Goofy.

Riku went after them, but when Ven and Terra tried to follow suit they were barred by Lynn's bow held horizontally across their paths.

"You 'ent goin' anywhere, mate. We can't hold that hag off by ourselves!"

"We got that thing," Ven pointed at Leo.

"Erm. Evil super witch – he_llo!_" she waved her arms.

"Sssh!" Rhiannon snapped at her.

Maleficent had come down from above to their level, and was watching Leo with rather unnerving fascination. Mel was stood by his left foreleg, and Terra moved to stand by her, but the witch's attention was focused solely on the dragon.

"So _this_ is the Dragon of the Keyblade?" she asked in a silkily soft voice that raised the hair on the back on Ansem's neck. "Truly _fascinating_,"

"What's it to _you_?" Ven snapped, dropping into a defensive position.

Leo put one foot forward; wings raised to give the illusion of added mass, and bared his fangs with a menacing hiss. If Ansem had not known him so well, and had not seen him in more playful moods, he would have been terrified by the display Leo was putting on. He looked more or less ready for the kill, like a predator.

"I have been most interested in learning more since I found out," Maleficent said smoothly, walking slowly towards them and ignoring the deep rumbling in Leo's chest. Ansem couldn't fail to notice that Mel and Terra had retreated a safe distance, and Ven was watching his every move closely – but apparently Maleficent hadn't noticed this at all. "Just when I think I have learnt all that there is to know about the Keyblade, something new and far more exciting shows up." She smiled rather unpleasantly, leaning over her staff and stroking the orb set in the top. "Just what is it that ties such a magnificent beast to the Keyblade of Yore!"

Lynn stifled a laugh, and just about passed it off as a cough. Ansem's lips quirked into a smile as well; _none _of them knew so far, so what use was it asking?

Mel put a hand on Ansem's elbow, and he looked down at her. "You might want to take a step back." Was all she said, and he complied. He had seen Leo play fighting enough times to know the pattern he would probably follow in a real battle.

"My, my, my. Aren't you a strong, handsome specimen?" Maleficent continued with her crooning.

Leo raised his head and turned it at an insolent angle, glaring at her sidelong and bearing his neck in a vulnerable position to show off how he felt about her fighting prowess. Apparently, he didn't think much of it at all.

"And the only one of its kind in existence!"

Aqua had told Ansem that there were more eggs _some_where out there, and that Leo was only the first one to hatch, although they didn't know where to look for more dragon eggs. Apparently, Maleficent wasn't aware of this fact for herself yet.

"You poor creature," she simpered, and Leo's growls doubled in volume and force at her insincere pity. "Your so called 'friends' here have hidden much from you." Leo stopped snarling and cocked his head inquisitively to one said, and sat back on his haunches like a dog and just gazed at her curiously. Ansem hoped he was just confused and not interested in what she had to say… "Yes, my dear. Haven't you ever wondered what your kind is _truly_ capable of? All this drivel," she sneered and waved the notion away with her free hand, the other holding her long staff. "Of the Light being _all powerful_." She waited for Leo's reaction before she continued, and took the cocking of his head to the other side and the widening of his eyes as a sign of interest. Ansem noted his tail was completely still – something that never happened when he was happy or contented.

"But Light begets Darkness, does it not? Like the shadows cast from a brightly lit candle. Your friends are blinded by their own light, and do not see the world for what it truly is. They all shine, _so_ brightly! All except for one," she nodded at Mel, who stiffened from the attention, and Ven planted himself firmly in between them with a snarl of his own just as Leo tensed and raised his hind quarters up, growling and baring his teeth, tail flicking in agitation. "And so like you – a real curiosity, and an enigma that needs to be addressed properly."

Ven looked like he was about to say something, but didn't know what to say, so he took a deeper defensive stance, and didn't relent when Mel put a hand on his shoulder.

"A Heart eclipsed by neither the Light, nor the Dark. And yet, rather than utilising her unique standing, she chooses to remain in the Light. If you were to come with me, I could show you both the _true_ power of Darkness!" Maleficent made a grand, sweeping gesture with her hands, and Leo's tail thumped to the ground in submission and he settled back down on his haunches, an eyebrow raised at her and a somewhat bored looking expression on his face – or rather, that was how it seemed to Ansem. "You do not want this?" Maleficent asked rather innocently and Leo snorted rather dramatically, taking pains to close his eyes and leave himself in a vulnerable position, which was his way of showing disdain, though against such a foe that was a rather silly move to make. "Ahh, I see." She smiled and shook her head before turning again to Mel; Lynn raised her bow dispassionately and aimed at the woman's throat with a careless air that was outwardly ignored. "Your loyalties run too deeply to be swayed by mere words alone. And _you_ my dear, wouldn't you like to come with me? Of course you could bring him with you,"

"Get real!" Ven spat, tensing to spring, but Mel's hand kept him steady and in place.

"Perhaps she would like to speak for herself," Maleficent stated impassively. "There is much you could learn from me. Yen Sid can only teach you so much, because he never dared to learn the secrets of the Dark."

There was a long, drawn out pause in which Mel's gaze bored into Maleficent's. She gave Ven's arm a squeeze before she slid around him and stood before the group, facing the witch down. Leo crouched and rumbled a warning in his chest, watching them both closely for signs of an attack. Ansem never doubted for a moment that Mel would agree to this, but he wasn't quite sure how she would respond.

Shoulder's back, back straight, gaze unflinching; she was the picture of resolve.

"My dear, will you come with me?" the offer was again waved at her tantalisingly.

"No." Mel said flatly.

"Are you sure? You could learn so much more from-"

"I said: _no_."

Maleficent's patience began to wear thinly. "You wish to walk in balance, and yet you chose to live forever in the Light without a thought for the Darkness? How is that an existence of equilibrium, to give both sides fair quarter?"

"I don't make bargains with people who destroy the homes and lives of others." Ansem had thought Mel incapable of such a venomous tone, and yet here she was, all but spitting the words out. Her arms trembled and her weapons shook; Terra dashed forward to stand aside and ahead of her, and Maleficent laughed high and cold.

"And you are the _last_ person she needs to protect her!"

"Shut you old hag!" Ven shouted as Leo gave a deep groan that was usually the precursor to a much louder roar.

"You trust this man?" she asked Mel derisively.

"I trust that if he does hurt someone he does whatever he can to repair the damage – unlike you." Came the acidic response.

"Hmph." She was starting to get bored of the conversation now, and turned her gaze back to Leo, who looked angry indeed at the insults she was dispensing to his family. "So like your cousin. Impudent…"

"What?" Mel almost dropped her Keyblades in shock. Ven looked taken aback as well, but Terra's eyes narrowed with dislike, and he said nothing.

"And he was so cooperative to begin with. Now I see, stubbornness and an attraction to Light is a family trait, it would seem." She sighed and gave Leo an appraising look while Mel continued to reel in shock. "So, will you cooperate?"

Leo made a coughing sound and flicked his head to one side, keeping his eyes on her this time and not blinking once. His lips was drawn back to display as many teeth as possible.

"Very well, then. I have no choice but to take you down myself!"

Maleficent brought her staff down in what was probably meant to be a devastating blow, but Lynn loosed an arrow that narrowly missed her, and broke her concentration so the spell fell flat before it was even cast, and Leo opened his great maw wide and clamped his teeth around the staff. He sat down quickly and stayed there, looking down his snout at her and gripping the staff firmly in his mouth. Terra started to run forward, but Mel regained some sense and grabbed his arm to drag him back and out of harms way should Leo retaliate.

"Let go at once!" Maleficent demanded, taking the staff in both hands and pulling with all her might.

Leo raised his head up slightly and closed his eyes briefly before tugging back. The funniest thing to Ansem's mind was that he didn't even appear to be _trying_ – his bulk was mostly heavy muscles which gave him ballast against her, and he stood his ground pretty well even when sat down. Ven sniggered loudly as Leo leaned his head back, still pulling against her.

"Silence you knave!" she demanded of him, her eyes glowing with malice as Leo continued to make a fool out of her.

Leo himself looked a bit confused and unsure as to what exactly to make of the situation. The rather scary woman who had made so many dark promises and threats against his family, now brandishing a staff and many new promises of a doom filled future, was now apparently trying to play with him – at least to his mind that was what her antics would normally equate to. For all his intelligence and growing maturity, Leo was still effectively a child – not even a year old yet. The poor thing didn't know what to do about her; one moment he was geared up for a real fight, the next he was presented with a game. He had played such games of tug-of-war with Sora and the others, but this was a completely different set of circumstances, and the observational scientist in Ansem was keen to see what Leo's next move would be.

"Confound it! I said _let go_!" she gave an almighty tug, and Leo merely raised his back legs off the ground to give him more manoeuvrability, which in turn increased his height and made Maleficent stretch even further to regain her staff. "You insolent lizard! You'll _rue_ the day you ever-!"

Leo chose that moment to let go, not sure what else to do with the shrieking woman, and the force with which she had been pulling on her staff carried her backwards so she fell over and skidded along the ground until she came to rest, stunned. Leo turned to look at Mel, his eyes wide and questioning, and Mel gave him a reassuring smile to let him know he wasn't in trouble, and his tail banged against the paving stones.

Maleficent pulled herself up to her full height, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You'll _pay_ for such impudence!" she raised her staff to cast another spell, and Terra and Ven were already moving, but Leo moved first. He pounced at her with a roar, and she only just managed to sidestepped him, though he swung his thick tail around and clipped her heavily in the small of her back, making her stumble.

"You really are losing your touch." said an unfamiliar voice that made her stop dead in her tracks.

Leo hissed and turned himself to face her, lifting his spread wings to act as a shield for Terra and Ven, and Mel as she rushed to join them. Lynn raised her loaded bow and Rhiannon stood on Ansem's other side with a handful of white fire and a deadly serious look on her face.

Maleficent huffed disdainfully and looked away from the assembled group as if they were of little concern to her, which roused a loud growl from Leo's throat.

"This is _no_ concern of yours. I thought we had agreed,"

Ansem jumped when a portal opened up in the middle of the Postern, uncannily like the ones that led into the Corridors of Darkness, and he wasn't the only one. Rhiannon and Lynn turned their attention to it and the person who stepped out into the sunlight.

The voice had been male, which suggested it was a man; they wore a robe of brown so dark it was easily mistaken for black, with a hood so deep and wide the face within was shrouded completely in deep shadow. They walked with a lithe gait, speaking of powerful muscles hidden beneath the robe. Maleficent's scowl was evident as the robed person advanced on her.

"What are you doing here? You were meant to be indulging those imbeciles with the Heartless."

"Well, I had another plan. A better plan." He said. His voice was…hard to pin down. It was, if a voice could be, nondescript. Mid-tone for a male voice; not too rough or smooth, neither quiet nor loud, and with an accent that was completely generic. "You're not the only one with friends in high places. I thought we could play a little game and see who wins out."

"Fool!" Maleficent scolded. "The arrangement was to stick to the plan!"

"Well I found I thought your plan was rather…_one-sided_." He said simply. He raised his head to look at Leo, who's rumbling increased again in tempo. "You shouldn't even exist, friend. I thought I had put a stop to that." Under other circumstances (and with a different choice of phrasing) he would have sounded rather pleasant in the deliverance of these words.

Either way, Ansem was astonished by this admission, but it was nothing on Mel, Ven and Terra's reaction. They stared with a mixture of shock and horror before the men started to simmer into anger – Mel was just purely and simply shocked.

Leo's eyes went wide before he settled himself into a position that would let him pounce with great power and speed, the rumble in his chest reaching a fever pitch. It was like watching a cat sizing up an opponent, knowing it would spring forward at any moment but biding its times with unpredictability.

"I know you were rather keen on collecting a new toy for your little schemes," the robed stranger went on mildly. "But really, I think it would be best for my own game plan if he simply…discontinued to exist."

XOXOX


	25. The Dragon's Roar

**AN: Tah dah! :) I am still more or less on top of this, which considering how ill I've been recently is a pretty good going xD**

**I think the next chapter will be slower in pace but probably richer in content where all the loose ends will 'attempt' to ties themselves together ;) **

**I'd also like to say, there is a phrase in here which Lynn says, that goes: 'c'est la guerre' – I heard this when I made a spurious remark about 'c'est la vie!' to which someone responded with, 'c'est ne pas la vie, c'est la guerre'. Now, APPARANTLY this comes from a poem, which I have singularly failed to locate on the internet so I can't credit it to the one(s) who created it, but it doesn't belong to me! (in English it basically means: 'that's not life, that's war!' rather dry sense of humour…) I thought it was such a good idea but I just don't know who would own the copyrights to this so it's not covered by the disclaimer in my profile…suffice to say I didn't come up with it myself ;)**

**Onwards ever onwards! :D**

_**The Dragon's Roar**_

Aqua stood, panting with exertion, unable to believe her eyes when the Heartless just suddenly disappeared, as if evaporating into thin air.

It had been becoming desperate, even when Sora and Riku bowled into the scene with a war cry and set about craving a wide path through the chaos of the market place. They could handle the numbers that were there, no question – only no sooner had one or two Heartless been felled, then two or three more took their place, and the cycle didn't seem to be breaking any time soon. If Leo had been here, he could have taken many more down by himself, but he'd shot off like a dart a while ago now, and Aqua could only assume he was needed else where, other wise he would have made his way back to help.

Even with the structural integrity of the surrounding buildings in question, Aqua had eventually given in and grabbed Bahamut's crystal, before calling him forth and throwing it to Sora to catch. When they had been experimenting and practising with the Scion's summoning crystals, the great dragon had seemed rather partial to Sora, so it was their safest bet for enlisting help without further compromising the structures around them. It didn't take long for Sora to start drifting away, towards the source of the oncoming tide of Heartless, and taking Bahamut with him; they all fought valiantly, and the Scion was more than happy to act as a battering ram when a larger infusion of Heartless appeared, but they still made very little headway.

Aqua had been running to help Cloud after he took a dive and had to hobble aside to avoid getting hit by a Morning Star as it leapt into the air above him. She hefted her Keyblade and stood her ground as it turned to her and began to charge, preferring her over Cloud's near prone figure on the ground.

Expecting to feel the jolt as they collided, she spun on her back leg and threw everything she had into the blow – which never landed.

That was when the Heartless just…disappeared.

Some of them escaped through small portals into the Corridors of Darkness, some of them appeared to dissipate in clouds of upward drifting dark smoke, and others sort of just disintegrated towards the ground in a fine powder that blew away in a nonexistent breeze.

It left her breathing hard from the effort it had cost her to keep pushing against the endless wave that assaulted them. She couldn't believe it at first, but when she turned to check, Donald and Goofy were waving at her from the other side of the market place, as mystified as she was.

Cloud hadn't taken too much damage – a sprained ankle and a badly bruised wrist. That was easily remedied with a few good healing spells, and he left to go check on the others swiftly after he could place weight on his leg again.

"Aqua!" Sora shouted, waving his arm vigorously to catch her attention.

"What is it?" she asked once she caught up with him.

"Cid said they've gone from the town, but they're still in the gorge, and there're those weird…_things_ in the Great Maw." He explained. "I think we'd better go check it out. Yuffie said they can handle things in the town and they'll yell if the Heartless come back here again."

Aqua nodded, and they dashed off towards the gorge, Riku following behind a few paces as he checked through his remaining potions.

The situation was…manageable, in the gorge, and the strange creatures like the ones Rhiannon and Lynn had brought down weren't to be seen anywhere when they arrived. It was going to be another long, hard slog to keep them from getting back into the town, but it was well within their limits of abilities and endurance. Having Bahamut with the freedom to blast his way through the Heartless certainly helped, but he had to rein it in so he didn't accidentally hurt any of their allies – yet another limiting factor on their arsenal. Aqua just hoped that the others would come and help soon, and that whatever was keeping them from do so in the town wasn't too difficult or dangerous.

XOXOX

Terra's blood ran cold in his veins, and his mouth felt incredibly dry, but he gritted his teeth and stood his ground.

He was scared. More than scared. He felt terrified.

No one bandied around with such words in play, and in such a tone of voice.

It was…unnerving to say the very, _very_ least.

Leo was tensed like a coiled spring, and ready to launch himself at the man; Ven was trembling – possibly with rage because his magic spiked rather dangerously; Terra could feel the hostility coming off him in waves. Mel…hadn't appeared to react at all. When he chanced a glance at her, her face was very pale, and her eyes were wide with shock. Lynn was leaning forward on her left leg, displacing her weight in a different direction as if contemplating making a run into the fray and going trigger happy with her arrows. Rhiannon's ominous glare coupled with the shadows cast on her face from the white fire in her hand were almost as bad as the man's demeanour.

Maleficent's look of utter disdain suggested that their working relationship was now at an end. "Very well then," she said coldly. "I'll leave _you_ to clean up this mess, since you chose to show your true hand. I no longer require your services!"

"That's good. I have more time to devote to my other pursuits, in that case. Reconnaissance was never a strong skill of mine. You may go," he made a casual gesture, the sort Aqua might make when she was absentminded and focused on something else, like a gesture of acknowledgement or dismissal.

That would grate on Maleficent's pride…

She drew herself up to her fullest height and glared at him. "Fine! You can sort your own mess out yourself!" she threw her arms wide and high, and disappeared in a flare of green and black flame.

"And take your lackeys with you." The man said pleasantly to the air. "And I most certainly will take care of this mess." He turned to face them, his face so deeply shadowed it was impossible to make out any features. "Dear me, we do seem to have got off on the wrong foot, haven't we?"

"Who are you? What do you want?" Ven spat angrily, shaking with suppressed rage. Leo growled loudly and Mel took a step back to lay a hand on his leg to calm him down, but it did little to help.

"My Name is of little consequence or import. Not any more." He said offhandedly, with a vague gesture of his right hand, clad in a thick leather glove. "Quite simply, I have a vested interest in keeping that Dragon out of the whole loop of destiny the world's have going on. In other words, I'm afraid you'll have to say your goodbyes now, because I must finish what I started."

"What the hell are you on about?" Terra snarled.

The man turned his head towards him, and even though he couldn't tell where the eyes were, Terra felt the full force of his gaze, and it made his skin crawl.

"I don't think you are really in a position to speak to me like that." He said quietly. "As if I am the villain. I do believe much of the damage wrought upon the Light was a direct cause of your own actions."

It was most probably said as an attempt to unsettle him further, which Terra recognised – but that didn't stop it feeling like a blow to his heart. No, he wasn't going to think about that _now_; too many people in this world were at risk right now, Leo at the top of the list for the moment.

Ven tried to launch himself at the man, but Leo got in there first; he leapt forward so he was planted firmly in between them and roared angrily and defiantly at him. The man stood stock still, as if a juvenile dragon wasn't screaming in his face – when Leo stopped, drawing his head back and snarling loudly, the man lifted his head slightly to look up at him.

"Finished?" he asked politely.

Terra wished he had the strength to stop Leo, but he was far too big for him to control by force. Leo screeched angrily and dived forward while the three of them took cover, and when he looked up he saw Ven's eyes were wide. Turning back to Leo, who had made a faint to the left and dodged around the right instead, slammed his tail down and only missed by mere inches. The man was holding a weapon that looked horribly like a Keyblade, but just _not_…it just looked all wrong, for a weapon Terra knew to be an instrument of the Light, to look so…sinister.

It may as well have been a torture weapon, with all those wicked looking spikes so dangerously close to Leo.

Terra was about to dash in to help, but Mel grabbed his arm before he could take more than a step.

"But-!"

"Do you _really_ want to get under his feet?" she asked, almost cynically for her, eyebrows raised rather high.

Of course, she was absolutely right; Leo succeeded in trampling the robed man under foot, and dealt him a heavy blow to the chest with his head through the medium of the head butt Sora had taught him – only much _much_ more violently. The man struggled to get up, and Leo raked the ground with his front paws before snarling and stalking off, the way he usually did when someone annoyed him and he wanted the entire world to know his disapproval. Despite the great gravity of the situation, Ven snorted with laughter, and Terra managed a smile.

The man got to his feet quickly once he was able to move swiftly, and the set of his shoulders suggested he was staring Leo down, who turned to face him again sideways on and roared his challenge. The man ran at him, and tried to slip under Leo's guard as he changed his tactics, and yelled in surprise when an arrow embedded itself in the stiff leather padding apparently hidden underneath his robe. One could only assume the dire look Lynn was getting, though it was hard to tell.

In true form Lynn gave him a reckless grin and shrugged dramatically. "C'est la guerre!" she said with a devil may care attitude.

The cool demeanour was wearing off, and he made a dash for Lynn, who dived away from Ansem and clouted him round the head with her bow, making him reel. He lashed back somewhat haphazardly out of anger, and clipped her across her bicep so a trickle of blood stained her white top. Leo charged and got his shoulder in his jaws before wrenching him off his feet and flinging the man across the Postern were he skidded to a halt by Ven's feet.

"You know, you should really pick your fights more carefully," Ven commented, before he intercepted a strike and deflected it with relative ease.

It was rather hard to sustain a fight with him involving all of them at once – they risked injuring each other instead of him, and so most hovered anxiously around Leo, who did his best to beak free and have a go himself on the man who had insulted his family and announced his intentions to kill him. Even in a real fight such as this, Terra knew Leo's mind was thinking: _fair game_. Rather than lock Keyblades, Mel stood by trying to hold up magic barriers around Ven and then Terra as he ran in to help. Lynn and Rhiannon threw a barrage of projectiles at their enemy, and Ansem went to seek shelter behind Leo with Mel, who seemed to remove himself from the fight in favour of keeping them safe. Whenever the fight seemed to be heading in their direction snarls erupted from his throat, and on several occasions he snapped at a flying limb that strayed too close, succeeding at one point in ripping a glove free and sending it flying. Terra caught a glimpse of a large, strong hand and wrist attached to what promised to be a muscular arm – but it was _so pale_. Aqua was pretty fair skinned, but she looked healthy with it; the skin on his arm was unnaturally pale, as if the man was sick, but the musculature and the force of the blows he dealt them said otherwise.

Terra saw just before the powerful, devastating blow was dealt, and tried to prepare a defence against it. Ven didn't see it coming at all, and when the blade came arcing down to catch them both heavily across the arms and chest, it kept going towards the ground where it created a shockwave that made nearly everyone collapse. Terra looked up, dazed, and saw Mel had fallen to her knees, panting with the effort of keeping the pallings she had cast in place.

"I've had just about enough of this nonsense," the man said in clipped tones.

"Oh yeah? Well I haven't!" Lynn shouted bravely, making a show of rummaging through her quiver. "And I've got a special arrow right here with _your_ name on it!"

The man chuckled gruffly. "How very amusing," it was to him apparently, but Terra guessed there was something he knew that they didn't that made it humorous. If Lynn had been looking at him like _that_, he would be running for cover. Luckily, she was on their side, though he still feared catching the fall out if she got too carried away with her magic.

"Yeah, 'ent it just?" she simpered, slipping an arrow out and loading it so fast that by the time they had realised, the arrow was already on its way.

The man made a swing with his arm, but the arrow changed course at the last moment with a flick from Lynn's hand, and it took a nose dive into the paving stones, right before it exploded in a cloud of noxious looking acid green gas. While he gagged, Terra grabbed Ven under the arm and heaved him away so they could regroup. Lynn kissed her bow with an ostentatious gesture and said, "Thank you Kenny, for taking me to that God awful chemistry seminar! What would I do without you?"

"What _was_ that?" Ansem asked, interested in the science despite the situation.

Lynn was rattling off a list of ingredients and spells (it sounded suspiciously more like alchemy than chemistry) when she ducked and spun out of the way of the man's Keyblade.

"Ha!" she ducked and dodged again, hitting him across the hips with the broad side of her bow. "Missed again!" she did a backwards cartwheel to avoid the next one and unsheathed her hunting knife to take a swipe, and succeeded in cutting a swathe of the sleeves of his robe, revealing deathly pale skin but _strong_, hard and vigorous muscles over steely bone and sinew. "You even tryin'?"

In response, he kicked at her hand as she made a low dive to avoid a strike, and succeeded in relieving her of her knife.

Lynn's eyes grew narrow and angry. "That gets broken dickhead you're paying for a new one!"

With a snarl, the man lashed out at her again, but had to dodge a magic attack from Rhiannon who was running to her friend's aid. He flung an arm out and suddenly she was bowled over and collapsed, struggling for breath while Ven raced to cover her with a grimace.

"Now, where was I?" the man asked, making a brutal lunge for the bow with the intention of snapping it in half, but not moving fast enough.

"I think it was the bit where I destroy you and move on with my life." She said arrogantly, teeth drawn back in a snarl of her own.

After two quick blows, he managed to rip her quiver from her belt, and it scattered arrows in every direction, right before he managed to hit her left arm that was holding the bow and make it drop to the ground with a clatter.

Lynn looked angry, and a little apprehensive. Beyond magic, she had no other weapons.

"Fate hates me." She said blankly, dropping into a rather rusty fighting stance and summoning her Keyblade.

The man had been making a flamboyant show of returning to the ready position as he celebrated disarming his annoying opponent, but when he noticed the Keyblade in her hand he stopped dead in his tracks and simply croaked, "No,"

"Yeah, whatever! Don't sound so surprised, like the Keyblade apparently chose a douche bag like _you_."

Terra watched time slow down for a moment, and he made a dash for her just as it began to speed up again. He just knew something horrible was about to happen.

"NO!" came the scream, and suddenly Lynn was on the ground under a barrage of violent strikes. "NO! WHY? WHY! HOW _DARE_ YOU-?!"

Terra took advantage of his preoccupation and brought his Keyblade down on his back with a satisfying _crack_, and gave him a shove as the man reeled in confusion so he fell sideways and hopefully broke a few bones in the process. And then he was charged by a fully enraged dragon, which only made matters for him worse.

Terra had often wondered, as Leo had grown from a fresh hatchling to a boisterous chick, what it would be like to face a grown Dragon of the Keyblade, on the opposing side. Apparently, as he tried to help Lynn up, he was about to find out.

Mel's palling failed, and while she tried to fix a new one, Rhiannon ran to Lynn's side, feeling for a pulse and shaking her almost violently to get her to wake up. Blood trickled from her nose, her arm was at an unnatural angle in its socket, and she was unconscious.

Terra threw himself in the way as a shield to catch stray blow that came their way as Rhiannon tried to repair some of the damage. Leo was really going for it; he sustained a cut above his left eye and blinked rapidly to clear the blood from his vision, but he got in a few cuts and bruises, and even a sprained wrist as well if they were lucky. The man had to back up to recover for a moment, and Leo planted his feet firmly against the ground before doing something Terra had never seen before.

It started like a croaking groan in his throat, which went back deep into his chest, and his body convulsed as if he were trying to regurgitate something. The sound intensified as the man stalked towards him again like a predator sighting its prey at a vulnerable moment.

Suddenly, Terra understood exactly what Leo was doing, and he had only just enough time to warn Rhiannon and don his own armour. He turned to see Mel had already guessed where Leo was heading, and had summoned her armour and set a powerful shield around Ansem, although what good any of it would do was yet to be seen.

After the final precursor, Leo let fly a roar that shook the entire town – maybe even the entire _world_ – having worked it up to an even higher tenor and power after warming his vocal cords to it.

Terra collapsed, and he saw from the corners of his eyes that the others had too, though the man in the tattered robes seemed to be getting the very worst of it. He wondered vaguely as his skull vibrated painfully and his teeth rattled dangerously, who else was feeling the effects.

He didn't know it, but across in the town and the Great Maw, friends and foe alike were falling over and clutching at their heads in agony, unprotected by such strong armour. Sora hit the ground first, and Aqua managed to throw herself over him before she lost her senses to protect him from the attacking Heartless that merely collapsed on top of her in turn before rolling away down the slope; all of them too stunned and in pain to really notice much else. Riku lay in a dazed stupor, blood trickling into his eyes from a cut on his forehead, but he was unable to move to wipe it away as the roaring in his ears continued to reverberate across the canyon. Bahamut was brought to his knees by the barrage, though he didn't quite collapse, and watched as everyone around succumbed to the onslaught, knowing from whence it originated but not the why of its occurrence.

Slowly, when the world had settled again, Terra uncurled himself from the foetal position and looked up, his ears ringing in the sudden, merciful silence. Leo was crouched low, teeth exposed by his drawn lips, hovering near the ground by the man's head, shrouded still in its heavy hood. He was distracted by Rhiannon coming to, and turned to help her unsteadily to her feet, and when he turned to look at Leo again, he saw the man stirring. He sat up very slowly, and then his head twisted sharply to take in the baleful honey coloured eyes that bore into him. Leo made a single, guttural grunt, and he was scrambling for cover, falling over himself, and almost letting his hood slide back to reveal his face, though he caught it just in time and pulled it far forward over his head again.

Leo made one more mini roar (almost a meow in comparison to the terrible din he had just loosed upon them) and made a mock charge that took him forwards only two paces. The man got hastily to his feet and tried to leg it.

"Yeah!" Ven shouted at his retreating form. "You better run!"

Leo snorted in a self-satisfied manner and looked rather pleased with himself before he raised his left foreleg and started grooming his ruffled feathers with a careless air.

"Evie,"

Terra turned to Rhiannon, who was crouching beside her friend and fluttering in agitation. "Is she okay?" he asked, squatting down on her other side and feeling for a pulse. It was extremely slow, but it felt steady and powerful – she must have hit her head pretty hard when she fell, though.

"Eaves. Evie! Pet, wake up!" Rhiannon tried to shake her, but Terra took her firmly by the wrists. "Let go!" she hissed. "Evalyn, get your fat arse up this instant!"

"Um…" Terra looked pointedly at Lynn's arm. "I think her shoulder _might_ be dislocated or something? Throttling her won't do her any good." He glanced over his shoulder and saw Ven heaving Mel to her feet while Leo sauntered up to them, as if he hadn't just seen off a particularly powerful enemy almost single-handed. Though he did look rather smug…

Turning back to Lynn, Terra saw Ansem had come to investigate, and was trying to help revive her. "The shoulder has been dislocated," he concluded, agreeing with Terra's diagnosis.

Lynn stirred and groaned inaudibly, but she didn't wake up. Blood was smeared across her nose and lips, and she had nasty looking bruises developing all over her skin. That man had beaten her up quite badly – but _why_? It couldn't have been just on the basis of her insults, she hadn't been the only one poking fun…

"What do we do then?" Rhiannon demanded angrily, face rather pale and tight with worry.

"Terra, if you hold her up for me," Ansem showed him how best to support her before he took a strong position himself and took her arm and shoulder in his hands. "It's best to do it now, otherwise when she wakes up she'll be in considerable pain."

While Ansem was getting ready and making sure he would be replacing her arm to the correct location, Lynn sadly chose to wake up. Her eyes were bleary and her teeth instantly gritted, before she turned her glower to Terra, the closest person she could focus on.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed angrily in a pained whisper.

"You'll thank me for it later," he assured her, a bit startled by the colour of her eyes; blood red and painfully familiar lamp-like yellow – not the most endearing combination of colours in his books…and the glare she was giving him wasn't exactly comforting either.

"Lynn, I need to put your arm back into place." Ansem informed her.

"What?" she snapped, wincing. "My arm? Hey, why'd dickhead go? Where am I even? What-?"

"Oh _shut up_!" Rhiannon snapped, preparing to clout her round the back of the head, but probably thinking better of it given the mount of blood being expelled from her nose.

"Your shoulder has been dislocated. This is going to hurt, but it won't be as bad once your arm is back in place. All right?"

"Ow…" Lynn whined, then, "_Ow ow ow ow ow_!" as he applied pressure to her arm. She fairly screamed, right in Terra's ear, and then Ansem let go and she flopped to the ground in a heap, panting heavily, but no longer screaming in agony. Rhiannon descended with a motherly vengeance to calm and console her. "Oh my God…Oh Christ…that hurt a _lot_…"

"It's _all_ alright now, flower." Rhiannon said gently. "Your arm looks as freaky as it ever did before,"

"Ouch…" Lynn whimpered, cradling the offending limb close to her body as Ansem unwound his scarf and used it as a make shift sling.

"Hey look!" Ven called, pointing to something on the ground as Mel rushed over to see if she could help. Leo followed with his nose close to the ground, curious to see what he had found.

"Are you all right, Lynn?" Mel asked softly.

"I hurt. I just hurt. The pain…!" she grimaced pitifully and curled into a ball next to Rhiannon, who laid a hand on her head and sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes.

"She's _fine_, pet. She's got the strength to complain, there's notin' wrong with her."

"Guys!"

"What?" Terra sighed, turning his attention away to look at Ven, waving something at them. "What is it?"

"It's one of those weird black stone things, only it doesn't feel all evil and stuff like the others." He waved his hand and the stone more vigorously.

"In normal human, grown up speech…" Terra sighed, raising a hand to his temple.

There were footsteps on the path, but he didn't bother to look up, and Mel was more concerned with Lynn – until Ven gasped, followed by a few clanging noises as though someone had dropped something. Terra looked up, bemused at first and wondering who it was that had come to check on them after Leo's little 'roar', and felt for what was probably the umpteenth time that day, shocked.

Fair skin, inky black hair, oh so familiar green eyes – Tomasa stood poised on the spot, wide eyed as he tried to regain his balance. He had been coming round the corner so fast he didn't have much time to slow and steady himself before he was noticed. He wore a ragged looking Black Coat that was fraying at the hems and sleeves, and an expression of near horror

Mel leapt from Lynn's side to her feet, shock and desperation in her face. "Tom!"

He stood there for a moment, too stunned to move. Then, when Mel took a single step in his direction, he bolted. Just before he did, Terra thought he caught a glimpse of his own desperation, though from such a distance it was hard to tell.

"No! Wait, Tom _please_!" she shouted after him, trying to catching up but already flagging. Mel just wasn't physically built to sustain a sprint for very long. "Tom! Come back!"

Terra was on his feet by that point, but he hesitated. Much as he wanted to help Mel, he knew it wasn't his place; it was her family, her decision. Besides, he didn't know what to do even if he did go to help – what _could_ he do?

Ven tensed and spun round to look at something sharply, and Terra followed his gaze automatically.

"MEL-!" They both shouted, but it was too late.

The large, panther like creature with severe purple streaks radiating out from its spine and four long, whip like tails (one looked underdeveloped and distinctly crooked) had been racing along the walls high above silently, and was noticed just before it jumped. Terra and Ven ran to help, but it was too late; preoccupied with chasing her cousin, coupled with the lateness in detecting the danger in the first place, left her pretty much defenceless.

It landed heavily against her back, and with the forward momentum of her run it pitched them both into the ground hard at a skid. There was a horrendous wrenching sound as the armour on her right shoulder took a blow, but as it distorted and bent, it exposed her shoulder and neck, which was taken advantage of. Mel yelped as her armoured shoulder took a blow, and then screamed as it tore into her, trying to fend off her attacked, but it pinned her small body to the ground with a screech and continued to maul her with its teeth and claws.

Terra just happened to look up, and grabbed Ven and thrust them both out of the way just in time, even though Ven resisted almost violently.

Leo thundered past with a roar and bowled the black thing over, and then went straight for the jugular without a second thought or a moment of hesitation. He probably killed it outright, because when he shook it violently and tossed the body into the air, its neck was at an unnatural angle. It landed with a feeble _thump_ against the ground but Leo went for it again with a snarl, ripping and tearing at every inch he could get hold of. He didn't look like the Leo Terra knew; he was like a feral animal. And _that_, almost more than anything else that had happened so far that day, was the most terrifying.

Finally, he threw the limp form aside and stood his ground over Mel, snarling low and terrible in his throat as if daring the creature to get up and try again. Well, what was left of it at least.

Ven just stared dumbstruck at the scene, as if he couldn't quite believe what he had just seen. He was sat up on the ground where he had fallen when Terra pushed him out of the way, and Terra himself got shakily to his feet. He was scared – nothing was normal, nothing was _right_, and he'd just seen Leo maul a creature into oblivion. He didn't want to be there, his first reaction was to run away – but Mel _needed_ help, she hadn't moved since her attacker had been removed. It was also entirely possible Leo had trampled her by accident in his rage…

Terra made his way over, raising a placating hand in a gesture of good will, and his heart nearly gave out when Leo turned on him with his eyes closed and roared defiantly, angrily, in his face. He stopped, pulse hammering in his throat, afraid that he would be next, but Leo opened his eyes and his expression instantly turned soft and contrite. He whined long and high in his throat and shifted his front legs to look down at Mel beneath him, making that grating noise deep in his throat. She was lying awkwardly on her font, her head turned to the left; her clothes were ripped and nasty looking gashes were weeping crimson.

Not sure how Leo was going to react, Terra dropped to his knees beside her and felt along her spine and neck – nothing appeared to be broken or out of place. He gently rolled her onto her front, and she didn't respond. Her pulse – when he eventually found it – was very faint and erratic, and her breath was shallow.

"Is she-?"

Terra looked up and was almost as shocked by Ven's demeanour as he was Mel's condition. He had that worryingly glazed look in his eyes, and just an air of being completely lost.

"She's still alive. But she needs help. I don't think a healing spell's going to fix this," he turned back to her, and was startled to find she was growing rather pale – it rather stood out against the bright crimson smeared across her face and neck.

"Let me see," Ansem gently nudged Terra out of the way while Leo groaned and whined with distress, prancing with anxiety. He checked her over, including all the things Terra had done already except he opened her eyelids to check her pupils. He nodded gravely to himself and turned to Terra. "We need to get her inside. She's lost a lot of blood. If you could carry her,"

Terra gently lifted Mel's limp form into his arms – she still didn't respond at all to him.

"Ven," Ansem said gently, and he jumped out of his skin at being addressed. Ansem re-evaluated his question, and said kindly. "If you could keep an eye on Lynn. I think she may have a concussion. Rhiannon?"

"What is it? Is she all right?" the woman demanded, steam rolling up and demanding answers, leaving Lynn behind leaning against a wall with a pained expression.

"I need you to help Terra with the doors. We need to get her to the infirmary quickly, and Lynn will need seeing to as well. Mel needs treatment more urgently, so she and Ven can follow us more slowly." He then gave Leo directions to a balcony that part of the infirmary led out onto, but Leo didn't make any moves in that direction until Mel was indoors; then he spread his wings and launched himself into the air.

By the time Leo was in place and waiting for them, they were only traversing the first flight of stairs. He was whining with agitation when they finally arrived, but no sooner had Terra carefully laid Mel on a clean bed, Ven came dashing into the room ashen faced.

"Terra! We gotta go help the others!"

"What now?" he asked desperately. He felt torn in too many directions.

Ven dragged him to a window and pointed frantically. A few Heartless were zooming through the air towards the gorge, but there was a much larger entity in the Great Maw, and it didn't look promising.

"Oh great!" Rhiannon spat and threw her hands into the air. "_Now_ what do we do?"

Lea slid neatly into the room, and Lynn fell over the threshold, clutching her arm and wincing. "Hate to break up the party, but we've got a situation out in the Maw, and Leon requested every available hand down there _now_." He looked at Lynn, who grimaced.

"I'm not gonna be much use. And…oh shit!" her head snapped up and she spun dizzily for a moment before Lea grabbed her by the arms and steadied her. "My knife! Where's my knife?"

"Pet, we'll find it later," Rhiannon reasoned with her, but she wouldn't be consoled so easily.

"I can't lose it!" Lynn said through gritted teeth, frustrated with herself. Terra knew the feeling…

"Like _now_, people! Before the thing blows us all up?" Lea added.

Terra looked at the group around him, trying to make a decision. How did Aqua do it?

"Maybe someone should stay behind here? Just in case?" Lynn pointed out, leaning against the doorframe, panting with the effort.

"You need to sit down," Ansem said, and Lea shunted her to a chair in the corner.

"Guys!" Kairi raced in with Kyo hanging over her shoulder. "They're in real trouble down there!"

"I tink I'll-" Rhiannon began, but Ven interrupted.

"_I'll_ stay and look after them. You guys better get going," he was shaken, as scared as Terra, but he had a hard look in his eyes that usually meant his mind was set and immovable.

"All right. You do that." Terra nodded, taking Rhiannon by the shoulder. "We'll go help,"

"Leo'll get you there faster," Ven pointed out as she shrugged out of Terra's grip.

Leo himself was sat on the balcony with his head and most of his neck pushed through the doors, and he looked angry that they were trying to send him away from Mel; but Ven gently pointed out that Aqua and the others were doomed without them, and the faster they got there, the better for everyone. Leo heaved a sigh, and gave Mel's prone figure one last look before he extricated himself. Terra also gave the room one last look before he followed Lea onto the balcony outside.

Kyo was sat at the bedside staring at his sister while Ansem prepared himself to clean out her wounds, rubbing his hands with disinfectant and asking Kyo to get the bandages out – the directions fell on deaf ears. He looked like he wanted to cry, but just couldn't.

Lynn slumped in her chair, eyes closed, and scowled when Rhiannon rounded on her.

"If I don't find you in this seat when I get back I'm going to _kill_ you!" she snarled before she bustled to the doors and pushed past Terra, saying, "Well? Are we going or what?"

Lynn raised her head long enough to call out, "Well screw you too!" before she wilted again.

Leo pranced nervously like a horse, nostrils flaring. Carefully, they climbed onto his back, Rhiannon giving him a rather dubious look. The fact that Mel's attacker was little more than a tatty pelt clearly hadn't escaped her notice. Terra clambered on, finding himself at the front as Kairi scrabbled up behind Lea, needing a hand to get there.

"'Kay, boy." Terra said gently, rubbing his neck in a way that usually soothed him. "Let's go."

XOXOX

Tomasa took the stone in his hand and hurled it against the wall so it was blasted to pieces. Anger licked his insides, and he wanted to destroy _something_ just to vent it out before it consumed him completely.

Everything, _everything_ that day had just gone wrong. From bad, to much, _much_ worse.

First off, he'd lost the Void Stones he had been using – thanks to that idiot Pete. When he doubled back to find them, he ran head long into Mel. That was something he didn't want to happen, and it had taken everything he had to turn aside from her even though it felt like a knife in his heart.

What could he possibly say to her? She'd never forgive him for this, for betraying her and their grandfather like this, never…

And then he'd heard that awful screech of those…_things_, and then Mel's own scream, and it had taken everything he had to _get back _to her – only the man in the robes had grabbed him before he could and thrown him into the Corridors of Darkness, while he shouted and beat his fists uselessly against him, summoning every single spell and curse he could think of – all to no avail.

Not only had he betrayed Mel, he hadn't been able to help her…

So then he had been kicked out of the portal in front of Maleficent's castle, and she stormed out in a rage to demand what that man was doing back here while Tomasa ran for cover from her anger. Even after she saw him off, with many dark flames of green and black, she thundered through the castle in a fury for hours afterwards. Pete ran away like the coward he was, and Tomasa shut himself in his room to avoid her, and to wallow in his own misery.

He was an idiot; he shouldn't have spoken to Mel like that, he should never have left them in the first place, and he should _never_ have gone with Maleficent. What had he been _thinking_?!

And then, out of desperation and also curiosity to see if he could perform the same spell of far sight that Maleficent often did, he had conjured an image of Mel to check if she was all right.

An unfamiliar man stood over her, carefully threading stitches into her skin; for some bizarre reason there was a hare at the foot of the bed, and a strange woman with red and yellow eyes slumped in a seat beside the bed looking very tired – and _Kyo was beside her_. He was on his knees, staring at his sister with the same look he'd worn at his mother's funeral, indifferent to the woman's reassuring hand laid on his head. She looked in pain, with a red sling wrapped around her left arm.

But _Kyo_ was there.

Had Maleficent known? Had she chosen not to tell him?

Why?

Why had she lied to him about that? She said she didn't know where Kyo was, and Tomasa knew Mel would never abandon him to fate. Somewhere along the way, she must have found somewhere safe for him to stay. Well, she had _thought_ was safe at the time…

Tomasa was so angry – just at _everything_ that day, so when Maleficent walked into his room he had no sympathy for or fear of her. Just rage.

"It seems we have made a miscalculation." She said coldly, and stopped when she saw his face. "And what is your matter?" she demanded.

Tomasa paused only for a moment, before he exploded. "You knew! You knew my cousin was in Radiant Garden! You promised they wouldn't get hurt! My cousin could've been killed! _You promised_!"

"Calm yourself, child," she said with disdain, but he wouldn't be placated so easily.

"NO!" he shouted, flinging around stone across the room, watching the trail of silvery dust it left as the impact made it detonate with enough force to shatter part of the wall. "I won't! I'm through with this! I didn't agree with them, that was all! That's not a good enough excuse to let them get killed! My cousin could die! I don't care anymore!" he clenched his teeth and screwed his eyes shut tight as humiliating tears welled up and threatened to rain down. "I just want my family! I don't give a damn about your plans! You lied to me all this time – why the hell should I trust anything you ever said to me?!"

"Enough!" Maleficent said commandingly. "Silence!" she raised her arms, and Tomasa felt a physical force slam into him so he fell back onto his bed, panting with exertion. "Now then," she said more softly, and he bristled against more lies she was undoubtedly about to spin. "I appear to have made a mistake in trusting our _dark_ friend. It would seem rather than acquiring new knowledge, he wanted to destroy the very thing I was after."

Tomasa looked up at her distrustfully.

"My dear, I have no interest in harming your cousins. All I wish is to obtain that dragon. Now I see, it will not be as easy as I first thought. That beast has been trained in a manner unlike the regimes in that book you brought to me. I have under estimated him – a mistake I do no mean to make again. And our _friend_ has decided to leave our services to pursue his own ends, and we must be quick if we are to reach our own before he does."

"What do you mean?" Tomasa tried to sound brave a fearless, but his voice cracked towards the end like he was twelve years old again.

"Well, as long as that dragon is at large, he is in danger. And as long as he is in danger, so are your two cousins. _He_ will stop at nothing to destroy the Keyblade Dragon, and I fear very much that your cousin will use herself as a shield to protect him. That man is not to be trusted. He will stop at nothing, even if it means taking down the dragon's keepers as well."

Tomasa stared at her in horror. That hadn't occurred to him. Now Mel was in danger, if she ever came to after all those stitches. He had to do something! But _what_?

Maleficent extended a hand to him. "Help me, Tomasa. Together we can protect your family from this new threat."

He glared at her, still not trusting her words. But what else could he do? There was no other way he could see of helping Mel and Kyo.

"How exactly will taking Leo from Mel help? What are you going to do with him anyway?"

"The Keyblade has always been a source of fascination to me." Maleficent said, sweeping aside and walking up to the window to gaze out at the dreary, barren landscape below. "And a dragon that is tied to it…so very fascinating, indeed. It would be a shame to wreak so much collateral damage,"

_Not that it's ever stopped you before_. Tomasa thought to himself angrily, thinking of all Mel's possessions that the man had destroyed.

"For his own good, that dragon needs to be removed. I fear, I have underestimated our _friend_ as well, and he will not take this blow well. Your cousin could be in grave danger."

"Why? From what? Who is he, anyway?" Tomasa thought that in trying to coax him into cooperating, she might be more forth coming with information.

Maleficent gave him a calculating look before saying slowly, "He has no name, though you may have guessed that already. During our…'discussion', he revealed partly where his true loyalties lie. It sounds as if he is attempting to worm his way into another order like a maggot into a rotten apple," she looked disgusted by the very idea. "I do not know who they are, but I do know that they command another creature of the Dark. Not that I care for such things. All I care about is obtaining that dragon."

Tomasa sat in silence, thinking quick and hard. He still didn't trust her, and he still was planning to take them down from the inside – _some_how… But until then, his priority was Mel's safety. And the best thing he could do for now was remove the main source of danger from her life; that dragon.

"And if we get Leo away from them, Mel and Kyo will be safe?" he asked boldly, hoping to keep the bravado up for a while longer.

"Yes, undoubtedly." Maleficent said, gazing out of the window. "She will not be standing in his way when the time comes."

Tomasa took a deep breath. She was going to hate him for this, but she probably already hated him anyway, so what did it matter? As long as they were out of the firing line – that was all that mattered to him.

"What do I have to do?"

He tried to ignore the way she smiled to herself.

_Yeah_, he thought to himself as she turned to him with a saccharin smile. _But I still don't trust you completely._ He knew she was using him to achieve her own ends.

Well, two could play at that game.

XOXOX

Aqua carefully slipped around the door and crept into the room. It was dark, but they still hadn't gone home yet, and probably wouldn't for a while yet. After they had laboured against the Malboro that had nearly breached the town's defences, sustaining comparatively low level, but still many numerous injuries, she had discovered why Mel, Ven and Lynn hadn't been present, and why the moment it was all over Leo instantly took off without them.

Sora, Riku and Kairi had collapsed together in a heap, and though Sora argued feebly with Leon about staying to help clear up, he had let Riku drag him back to their ship to go home.

"You need to rest. You'll burn yourself out if you don't. We can take care of it without you. Go home already," Leon had gently scolded him as Sora protested.

The others would have left too, but Mickey insisted they stay to help, and Aqua had hurried along to see Mel while Donald and Goofy started the long and arduous clearing up operation.

Mel was in bad shape – those…whatever the hell they were; one of them had torn into her quite badly, and she'd probably be scarred for life. Aqua had winced when she first saw for herself the stitches that had been darned into her skin – it looked quite nasty and painful. Her right arm was bound up, and a bandage was wrapped around her head where a stray claw had cut a deep wound into her forehead and down the side of her face – missing her eye by just a few millimetres shy of an inch.

Lynn wasn't in good shape either; she was _covered_ in angry, storm coloured bruises, her nose didn't appear to be broken but it kept leaking blood sporadically so she was constantly healing herself with magic, and when she grew too exhausted to continue she begged someone else to help her, not wanting to distract medical attention away from Mel, who clearly needed it more. Aqua took pity on her and kept a steady stream of healing spells going until Lynn fell asleep, and Rhiannon took her back to her own ship for the night, insisting she could take care of her. Lynn's left arm was bound up in a sling, and it seemed she had somehow dislocated her shoulder though it had been promptly put back into place again. She wouldn't be able to use her arm properly for quite a while – Ansem was adamant, and went as far as threatening her if he caught her doing strenuous exercise with it. She may have turned on him in a tirade of curses to dare suggest she was incapable of looking after herself – but she was so tired by that point, she didn't argue, just made a noncommittal groan as Rhiannon steered her towards the door.

Aqua looked around the room as she padded across to Mel's bed. Terra and Ven were sat either side in chairs; the latter was half lying against the pillow, fast asleep while the former was sat up straight, slowly but surely dozing off. Kyo was lying on Mel's left side, where there were fewer bandages, curled up against his sister's body. Hester, his familiar, was sat placidly on Mel's other side, and someone seemed to have placed her hand on the animal's back, because her grip was relaxed, as though she wasn't aware of it. Leo was hunkered down on the balcony outside, the doors wide open to accommodate his head and shoulders, watching with his head propped up on a chair. He crooned softly when Aqua entered before turning back to his vigil.

This alerted Terra, who started and looked up, blinking wearily before seeing it was Aqua and settling back in his chair again with a yawn.

"Any change?" she asked softly, gently sitting down on the edge of the bed and taking Terra's hand.

"No. They gave her pain killers and a sedative I think, so she probably won't come round for a while." He murmured.

It was dark out by this time, and nearly everyone had gone to bed. A few stayed up to keep watch in the town, taking it in shifts, but it was probably a safe hazard that it was all over for now.

Aqua's guts twisted painfully as she gazed at Mel's face. It just didn't seem fair… Thank goodness Leo had sprung upon it when he did, although that seemed to have unhinged Terra and Ven almost as much as the initial attack itself. The carcass had been removed by the time Aqua arrived, so she didn't get to see what was left, but it sounded like Leo hadn't taken any chances.

"It'll be okay." Terra said gently as Ven stirred in his sleep.

"She looks so…" what word was there to describe it? Mel looked weak and vulnerable – the bandages hid the worst of it, but the bruises and the swelling that denoted infection were tell tale signs that she was not okay in any sense of the word.

"I doubt she'll mind." Terra said, somewhat carelessly, and in response to Aqua's hard look, he said, "Well, she doesn't care about her other scars, right? Bet you anything she says something like 'at least I'm marked on the outside and not on the inside where it matters' or something when she comes too."

"Bet she doesn't." Aqua said impulsively to prove him wrong, though the moment the words were out of her mouth she knew Mel would in all likelihood take this view.

Terra's eyes glinted in the dim light and he said playfully, "You lose, _you_ buy me ten ice creams."

"_You_ lose, you're doing all my chores for the next month." Aqua shot back on impulse, knowing in her heart she probably was going to lose. Although if Mel never mentioned it at all…

Ven twitched before lifting his head and blinking wearily up at them. "Huh-wha?" he slurred sleepily.

Aqua reached out and laid a hand on his head, stroking his hair. "Go to sleep Ven. It's all right." Ven dropped obediently and was asleep again almost instantly.

Kyo snuffled in his sleep and rolled over, brushing against Ven who simply moved out of his way without waking up.

"We should probably go to sleep too." Aqua said out loud.

There was a long pause, before Terra said, "I'm not moving from this spot."

"You can't sleep like that all night." Aqua reasoned. "Terra, you're hurt too. And you're exhausted. You need to sleep properly."

"What about Ven? And what about _you_?" he demanded with narrowed eyes. "I don't see you forcing _him_ to get up and move. I already said, I'm not leaving." He folded his arms stubbornly, and Aqua wished she had Master Eraqus' gift of inspiring obedience with a single, hard look. Not that it would ever work on Terra, even if she could affect such an expression. He had seen her goof up way too many times to ever take her completely seriously…

She cast around, and saw Leo straining to get more of himself inside the room, and it gave her an idea. After a little careful effort from all sides, they managed to get his front legs inside the doors, though his wings defeated them; no matter how carefully he folded them and squeezed, he couldn't get them through. Still, it was something, and Aqua persuaded Terra to leave the bedside and lie down with some spare blankets using Leo as a pillow. He complied happily, glad for the close contact, and Aqua gently woke Ven up and led him over so he could lie down as well; they left Kyo where he was.

Ansem came into the room early the next morning to find the three Keyblade wielders curled up against Leo's side, encircled by his long neck and fast asleep in each other's arms while Kyo lay snuggled up with his sister in the dawn's soft light.

XOXOX

When Mel became aware again, she couldn't feel a thing, and it took a while to realise she was actually conscious at all. Had she been meditating? This felt worryingly like the void that lay between the different realms of the conscious, that had to be traversed in order to transcend from the physical world. What on earth was she doing there? Radiant Garden had been under attack – why had she decided to sit down and meditate?

Then it occurred to her, after a moment of panic as she tried to grope for the energy systems around and within her, only to find nothing. She had been drugged with something that deadened her senses to the point that she couldn't grasp even her own energy system, let alone anyone or anything else's.

As she lay in a dark sea that was neither hot nor cold, or _anything_ at all, she wondered vaguely and detached from emotion what had happened. She must have been injured and pumped with drugs to keep her from feeling the pain. Had she had an operation? This had happened when her appendix was removed – the anaesthetics used had dulled all of her senses to the point that she was rendered completely incapable of anything. It reminded her of just how much she relied on her ability to feel energy and subtle entities; it was so much a part of her that she felt naked without that sensation all around her, as if the entire world had been snuffed out like a candle.

However long she laid there, she didn't know, but eventually sensation did come back to her; first she could feel where her limbs were, and then her organs and blood stream, and eventually the meridians of energy coursing through her – right before the pain set in. Her right arm felt like it was on fire, and there was a nasty aching, hot sensation across her face, especially her right temple in a line that curved down alongside her eye. Streaks of pain laced down the backs of her legs as if she had been cleaved there by something thin and sharp, and her neck felt stiff and hot. She would have cried out if she had the strength, or knew where her voice had gone.

All right, she knew she had definitely been injured, and quite badly by the feel of it – a quick check once she got her bearings revealed no bones had been broken, thank goodness. However, once she started to feel the other entities around her, she became aware of something in her system that shouldn't be there. It felt like a cross between a bacterial infection and a poison, and she could feel her body fighting against it through the drugs still clinging to her system.

Certain felines, especially cave lions where they still existed in certain worlds, had claws that left festering wounds, and you could survive an encounter with one only to drop dead from infection a few days later. So whatever attacked her had left toxins in her body, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been; someone had cleaned her wounds out, and she could smell the antiseptics now that her normal, earthly senses were returning to her.

Mel's mind struggled to take the pieces available to her and string them together in a coherent manner. She needed more time, and perhaps more sleep before she could make herself get up. After a while of dozing in and out of consciousness, she became aware of who was nearby, and it lightened her heart considerably to find Ven close by her. Terra was another steady presence, followed by Aqua flitting in and out. It took a bit longer to locate Kyo, because he was sat firmly in her own aura, but she recognised his distinctive energetic flare, and could hear his voice from a long way away at times. Leo was in the room too, though only partly; he was probably jammed in a doorway, because every so often she felt his seething frustration and felt him squirming around, but he never got any closer to her.

Mustering her strength after she felt she had rested enough, Mel forced herself to wake up, and almost wished she hadn't. Without the drugs blocking her neurones from feeling the pain, it slammed into her all at once with full force, and she reeled from it, but she gritted her teeth and pushed onwards. She'd felt physical agony worse than this – and she had her friends close by, it was no where near as bad, and if she could drag herself up again under worse conditions, there was no good reason to give up here and now.

With great difficulty, Mel forced her eyes open, and blinked at the harsh light that flooded her eyes. She groaned and raised her left hand, her right too painful to move just yet, and tried to shield her eyes from the glare. Her wrist brushed against something, and she lowered her hand again to find Kyo lying beside her.

Oh, he should be in his own bed! This standard hospital bed wasn't built for two. He must be dying to stretch his limbs, it was so cramped.

She stroked his messy copper coloured hair and managed a smile. Mel supposed, _really_, she shouldn't complain. They wouldn't have been able to drag her away if it had been Kyo who was injured.

Mel turned her head to get a better look at him, and saw Ven with his head cushioned on his arms by her pillow, dozing. He didn't look well rested; dark rings circled the underside of his eyes, and there was a frown on his brow. Sweat beaded his face, and she found that it was very humid indeed – almost to the point that it was unbearable, even indoors and inactive as she was.

When she wondered why there was no wind from the windows, she realised they were the doors that led to a balcony outside, and Leo was stuck in the doorway looking rather bored and fed up, trying to sleep and ignoring the sunlight that warmed his black feathers on top of the humidity.

Mel made a low, crooning noise she used to make when he was a hatchling, not wanting to wake the others up, but Leo's head snapped up instantly and he cooed loudly and happily in response, again struggling to get fully inside and reach her. Ven groaned and shifted before raising his head, eyes closed and yawning widely. When he opened them again, he saw Mel's head was turned his way and she was watching him.

"Mel! You're awake,"

"Sort of," she croaked, and winced. She was _very_ thirsty, she realised, and her throat felt like sand paper. How far had this infection spread…?

"How do you feel?" Ven asked, rearranging the blankets around her and hovering over Kyo, unsure whether to wake him or not.

"Thirsty." She managed to say eventually, and he raced off to get a glass of water.

Leo strained to get closer, making little noises of distress, watching her closely.

"I'm okay," she told him softly, trying to sit up awkwardly. Her right side hurt too much to put weight on it, but Kyo was on her left, and she wanted him to continue sleeping.

Ven came back with a glass, and gently helped her to sit up before assisting her to take a drink. It wasn't demeaning (she had helped many people with simple tasks like this in the past) but she wished she wasn't so incapacitated that she had to take Ven's attention away from other, more important things. When she had satisfied her thirst, she asked what had happened, and he told her the others were helping to clear the town up after the Heartless attack. Ven should have been out there helping the effort, and instead he was here baby-sitting. When she tried to apologise he gave her a hard, bored look before saying, "Don't be so stupid."

Kyo stirred, and whimpered in his sleep then, and Mel automatically raised her good hand to stroke his hair and soothe him.

"But I don't wanna be in the scouts…" he muttered to himself before opening his eyes blearily. "What?" he asked when he saw Ven's grin. He shuffled around and saw Mel was awake, and beamed up at her. "Mel!"

He flung his arms around her and she cried out in pain – every nerve ending protested at the pressure his arms put on her injuries, and Ven heaved him off instantly. When she opened her eyes again, swimming with tears sprung from pain, she saw Kyo's own tearful expression as Ven reprimanded him for being so careless.

"-You could've really hurt her! Mel's in a delicate condition right now. You need to be more careful, otherwise you'll just make her worse-"

Kyo looked down at his hands, turning his back so she couldn't see his tears, but Mel reached for him with her good arm and he looked down at her, sniffing.

"Just be a bit more gentle," she murmured, and he reached for her again, so very delicately this time before he snuggled up against her side, his head on her shoulder, quite content. "Please don't be too harsh on him," she said quietly to Ven when she was sure he had dozed off. "Kyo means well. I just wasn't expecting such an enthusiastic greeting."

Ven didn't look convinced, but he smiled nonetheless. "I was getting worried about you," he admitted, settling back in his chair and stretching his arms. There were sweat patches under his arms – hardly surprising in this heat, and Mel gathered she didn't smell too appealing herself. "Yikes," he grimaced when he noticed for himself.

"It is quite hot. Have you left this room since I came in?"

"Nope." He said unrepentantly.

"The world doesn't revolve around me. Go get cleaned up, I'll be fine."

"Nope." He said again, unashamedly pillowing his head with his hands and leaning back in his chair with a smile.

"Ven, you've got to look after yourself too." She tried to reason, and sighed when he refused.

"After I take care of you. And not before," he waggled a finger in her face with a grin. "You be good now, you hear?"

As if she could go anywhere…Kyo would never let her, not now he was comfortable and sleepy. He could be such a grouch when he didn't get his way _and_ he was really tired.

"I can't exactly disobey you," she pointed out with a smile, looking at Leo, whose head snapped up at the motion. He whined and hummed at a higher pitch than normal, which conveyed his concern, but he decided Ven could take care of her, and he settled down for a nap. There was even less she could do about moving Leo from his obviously uncomfortable position, so she let it be for now.

After a quick doze, or what felt like one, Mel was roused by Terra sweeping into the room and demanding, "_Well_?"

Ven grinned and poked Mel gently on her good arm and she stirred in response. "She lives!" he said dramatically, and she gave him a long-suffering look.

"Thank God for that! Outta my way," Lynn demanded, pushing Terra side and entering the room.

"How's your arm?" Mel asked as she took the seat on her other side, and failed to understand why she got such a withering look in response. "What? You dislocated your shoulder – are you okay?"

"Yeah, whatever." The woman said flippantly, flicking her right hand disparagingly. "And _you_?" she demanded, pointing an accusing finger at her. "You got mauled by that bastard – don't you want any sympathy for yourself?"

"She hasn't shut up all day about her poor nose," Terra said teasingly, walking across the room to the foot of her bed and sitting down.

Something jumped up onto the bed beside him, and Mel saw it was Kyo's hare Hester. She loped up to Mel's side quietly and sat watching her while she stroked her fur.

"What happened? I don't remember." _Mauled_?

"Those weirdo creepy panther like things – oh yeah!" she turned to Terra part way through her sentence. "We did get the data off the memory stick by feeding it into a dummy computer off the network so the virus couldn't replicate or whatever, and the things we were after on the cameras _were_ those freaky creatures that attacked us. So yeah," she turned back to Mel. "Anyway – there was this _thing_, right? And it sort of mauled you, and then Leo kinda _annihilated_ it, but you were unconscious and bleeding _all over _the show, so we dragged you back up here – and then shit _really_ went down and this feckin' _huge_ Malboro popped up outta _nowhere_ and tried to eat everyone – and Rhi's _still_ pissed off with me-!"

"Not surprised," Terra said with a grin. "You haven't stopped whining since you woke up."

"Gimme a break!" Lynn whinged, and Kyo and Ven giggled while Terra watched with patronisingly good nature. "I dislocated my arm! That dickhead nearly broke my nose! And Rhi's still blaming _me_ for all that blood at the Postern she had to clean up – and most of it's _hers_!" she pointed at Mel, and she decided Lynn was doing this for dramatic effect – and to keep Ven and Kyo laughing as the younger boy started to wake up properly. "And do _I_ get any sympathy for my broken bones and displaced limbs? No!"

"Maybe if you hadn't been so insulting he wouldn't've gone for you like that," Ven pointed out with a grin. "You brought it on yourself!"

Lynn sighed dramatically and leaned into her right hand for support, propped up on her knee. There was a support bandage wrapped around her left leg as well. "Can a Nobody get any sympathy round here? I'm in physical pain here, people!"

Kyo chose that moment to lean across Mel for a better look, saying, "Are you okay now?" not noticing Mel's expression. She stifled a yelp, but she obviously didn't hide her pain well enough from the others.

"Err," Lynn as watching her with a calculating expression. "I'm just peachy now Kyo, thanks to your concern. You might want to watch your sis, though." She pointed.

Kyo turned to look at Mel, and blanched. "What's wrong?!"

"That hurts…" she whispered, and sighed with relief when he took the pressure away from her right arm.

The door burst open again and Aqua appeared like a flash, and was instantly by her side when she saw that Mel was awake.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt at all? Should we get any more painkillers in? Speak to me!"

"Give her a chance! God's sake," Lynn rolled her eyes. "She can't answer you – let alone _breath_. Ouch!" Aqua flicked her ear painfully with an annoyed look. "The hell was that for?!"

"You – _shut up_." Aqua snapped.

"Aqua," Mel said softly, but Lynn wasn't going down that easily.

"Can't bloody tell _me_ what to do." She sniffed, but quailed under Aqua's glare.

"Oh _can't I_?"

"Err-"

"If you don't shut up you can just get out – _now_."

"Oh yeah?" Lynn hedged.

That was a mistake.

"Don't think I _won't_ command you as your High Master," the almost vicious edge to her voice was born from deep concern, though it still made Mel wince.

"Kay, you win." Lynn raised her hands somewhat awkwardly, looking sincerely repentant. "I'll shut up, Master."

"Good." Aqua snapped, and turned her back on Lynn. "Mel – are you all right?"

"I will be." She tried not to grimace. "I can feel an infection in my body. The wounds are festering and there's a toxin floating around that's causing most of the pain…I can probably deal with it myself, but I'm too tired at the moment."

"Lie down and rest. We can take care of everything for now, so don't worry. Concentrate on getting better."

Mel smiled in spite of her discomfort. Aqua would be a wonderful mother one day, she just knew it. She could almost see it – it may even have been a vision, which she sometimes experienced, or it might have been another headache coming on. There was a scratch on her face that festered as much as her arm –it was putting pressure on the muscles around her skull, and promised a full blown tension headache later.

Aqua turned from her to address the room at large. "Leon needs help down in the market to remove some debris. There are a few houses that got damaged that are not safe anymore, so they need to be taken down. He wants us to go help."

Ven gave Mel a sideways look.

"I'll be fine. I can't even get up."

"Exactly," Ven said. "Aqua, I think I should stay and-" he faltered under her expression.

"You've been here long enough and rested up. You're coming with me." She didn't say, _whether you like it or not_, but it was certainly implied very heavily.

Ven was about to argue, but he caught Terra's eye and gave in. "Fine." He said flatly.

Aqua turned to Terra, who was rubbing Leo's head. "If you two could start in the boroughs, that would be a big help. Cid needs a hand moving the machinery around, and Leo's the only one strong enough."

"We can do that, right?" Terra asked.

Leo snorted and turned his head away, but Mel interjected before Aqua had to get ratty with him too.

"I'm fine Leo, they could use your help. I'll be here when you get back. Please help them,"

Leo conceded, with little grace, and proceeded to sulk as he wrestled himself backwards through the doors with Ven and Terra pushing.

"Kyo, Ansem wanted you to help him in the lab." Aqua went on, and Kyo was about to resist, but Mel spoke up again.

"Same goes for you. You know where I am, and you know I can't run off anywhere. You should go, Ansem needs you too."

"But I don't _wanna_!" he whined.

Lynn closed her eyes and said nothing. She was probably dying to make a witty comment, but feared Aqua's wrath and rank a bit too much to dare test her luck.

"Kyo, that's an order." Mel said in a poor imitation of their grandfather when he meant business, and he grumbled and moaned but went without further physical protest.

"And _you_," Aqua rounded on Lynn, making her jump out of her skin. "Watch Mel. She needs anything at all you get it for her or come and find one of us. Got it?"

"Yessir! Err- ma'am." Lynn frowned. "Umm, how d'you address a High Master?"

"With respect?" Ven asked, giving one last push before Leo sprang free of the doorframe so suddenly that he over balanced and fell flat on his face. Terra just stared at him in amazement before poking him in the back to check for signs of life.

"And I don't want anyone breaking anything else!" Aqua said loudly. She was on edge, completely frazzled. Mel thought about asking her to calm down for her own sake, and thought better of it. She was in no position to help or placate anyone, and Aqua would just get even more worked up if she tried.

"Christ." Lynn blinked once everyone had left, scratching Hester's crooked ear absently. "She 'ent half a tyrant when she's busy playing Mother, is she?"

Mel leaned back on the pillows and closed her eyes with a sigh. "It's good to know she cares about us all. Though I wish she didn't take it on quite so deeply to heart. She could make herself sick worrying about us all."

"To be fair, we thought you might die at one point." Lynn said bluntly.

Mel probably needed to hear this, and just turned her head towards her to listen.

"Your heart – I'm sorry! – your thump-thump,"

Mel couldn't help but giggled. "My _what_?"

"Kyo made the distinction; there's the _Heart_ – all fluffy and spiritual and shizz, and then there's the myocardial organ that fires the blood system; aka, the thump-thump. So, you basically went into cardiac arrest for a bit, but before we could really get to grips with what was happening it started back up of its own accord. That's why Ven hasn't moved from that chair for nearly thirty-six hours."

"_What_?"

"Yeah, you've been out of it for over a day now. No wonder Aqua's going ballistic. She's wound up tighter than a spring – guess I deserved to get chewed out." She pulled a face. "Sadly, that's how I react to stress – I become obnoxious. I thought she was gonna kill me when I got _that look_."

"Mmm." Mel could imagine which look she was referring to.

Lynn settled in with a cats cradle to pass the time while Mel drank some more water and settled down to rest. The steady stream of curses as she fumbled her way through with only one really good arm was rather soothing in a way. Mel sent up a silent prayer to the Light for Healing before she allowed herself a nap.

_If nothing else, then for the sake of Aqua's sanity – please give me healing_.

Before she could drift off to sleep, a few fragments of memory punctuated by sharp painful sensations came floating through her mind, and she suddenly remembered she had been running somewhere before she was set upon, which accounted for the barely formed scabs on her knees where she had hit the ground.

Oh Tom, why hadn't he stopped to listen to her? She wished she knew whether he was safe or not, given all the chaos that had been roiling in the town…and she wished she knew what he had been doing there – was he in league with the man who had threatened Leo? Mel wished she had the strength and assurance in her own abilities to dowse on it – but she was too weak, and too emotionally involved to trust the answers she may receive.

_Just please be safe. _Please_ be safe Tom. Wherever you are, just be safe and unharmed._

XOXOX


	26. Shock Waves

**AN: this took a bit longer than anticipated to cobble together and may not have been sufficiently scrutinised for errors, so I do apologise in advance if any slipped through the net xD expect further delays in the immediate future…**

**I do touch on a subject in this chapter very close to my heart, and I tried not to be too preachy about it, but anticipate it resurfacing later because it most certainly will. Essentially, this one character is based off several people, including myself, who have Chronic Lyme disease – only she is at a stage that I hope to be at myself one day: **_**cured**_**. It is perfectly possible to achieve, only the stigma the 'authorities' put out about it and all the misinformation they broadcast makes most doctors push the necessary and aggressive treatment away with a barge pole (if they are even willing to admit it is a 'chronic' state of Lyme disease in the first place). So yeah, it's a very important issue to me and it slotted quite neatly into the plot I had in mind, so I shall unashamedly use this forum to broadcast the cause on behalf of the Lyme community xD If you want more information and have the spare time kicking around, find a good search engine and type in the phrase 'lyme wars' and that should give you an idea of the problems we come up against on a regular basis, sadly much of it being political as opposed to medical and scientific… Also, check out the Lyme Disease Action charity (LDA) for more information on the condition and how to prevent infection from tick bites. I CANNOT stress that enough, I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone, and prevention really is the best cure.**

**So yeah, now that my preaching is over – I'd like to once again thank **HeartofFyrwinde** for their undiminished resources of wisdom and great ideas, and idea bouncing in general :) who named the gummi ship **_**Flaire**_**. All will be revealed ;) enjoy!**

**And I would also like to thank all the latest favourites and follows I have received :D your support is greatly appreciated!**

_**Shock Waves**_

Leah was a bit worried when she saw the trio traipsing across the town square late that evening. They had taken off in such a hurry earlier, something about some friends who were in real trouble and needed help. Riku had said he'd be back, and she believed him, but sometimes those three disappeared for several days at a time, and in the past they had been gone for months on end and even longer. These days of course, they always _did_ come back before long, but often with a few small injuries that were beginning to get more noticeable. Selphie was trying to puzzle it all out in her mind, and was probably failing – her ideas were becoming ever more elaborate and just downright silly.

Alien Space Lizards was the latest theory that Tidus and Wakka had shot down with a vengeance.

So when she was walking through the square on her way to Lulu's house, she paused when she saw Sora, Riku and Kairi weaving their way up the incline past the fountain. She wondered where they had been, and when she saw Kairi's limp she was tempted to go over and see if she could help – but she didn't quite know what to say to them. They were all three of them the genuinely nicest people she knew, but they definitely had their own little 'clique' that no one else was a part of. Ven and Mel, and that red haired man she had seen running from Riku's house earlier that day, were all friends of theirs, and there was definitely something…_weird_ about them. Not in a nasty way; Mel had been very friendly, and Leah found herself liking the girl instantly, but there was still something just inherently _different_ about them.

As Leah stood by dithering, the three of them meandered past without noticing her, and against her better and polite judgement, she followed. They were headed in the same direction anyway, and if they did need help she was around to offer it.

"Aw man…" Sora groaned loud enough for her to hear. "My face hurts…"

"Sure you didn't just look in the mirror?" Riku teased, and winced when Kairi's hand shot out and smacked him upside the head.

"Shut up…" she groaned herself. "My head hurts…"

"Yeah, Leo's got _powerful_ lungs." Sora commented, and then yawned widely, stopping for the duration so that Kairi, and Riku who was holding her other side up, had to stop too. "I could sleep forever!" he proclaimed.

"Please don't." Riku grinned at him despite his obvious fatigue. "You're such a nightmare to wake up…"

"You couldn't sleep _forever_," Kairi said condescendingly with a smile.

"Well, I _feel_ like it right now."

"And you wanted to stay and help," Riku mocked him.

"Hey, Leon needed the help! I just didn't want to keep arguing with him…"

"We can go back when we don't feel like death." Kairi sighed. "Poor Mel…I hope she's okay,"

Leah's steps faltered. Were they talking about the same girl she had met? What on earth had happened to her?

Riku cringed. "That looked nasty…"

"Yeah, but did you see what Leo did to that thing that attacked her?" Sora turned to look at him over the top of Kairi's head. "Man! I'm sure glad he's on our side,"

"He only did that because she was nearly killed," Kairi pointed out in an uncharacteristically subdued voice. "Did you see how deep her wounds were?"

"Couldn't a few healing spells fix it, though?" Sora went on as they left the square and the market place behind, wandering into the residential area.

Leah frowned. _Spells_?

"Not on something like _that_," Riku said, jerking his head to one side, and Leah could imagine him rolling his eyes as he so often did when he was talking to Sora. "It requires too much energy – you'd drain the spell caster. It's best to let wounds like that heal by themselves over time. She'll be fine once she's rested up. Ansem said there was no damage to her nervous system, just muscle tissue. And she didn't break any bones, either."

"Poor Lynn." Kairi said suddenly, and they both looked down at her. She looked at them each in turn. "She dislocated her shoulder?"

Both boys stopped for a moment before saying in monotic unison, "Ouch!"

"Hope you're not in too much trouble," Riku said when they reached Kairi's house.

She grimaced as they helped her to the door. "Probably not, looks like they went to bed early. If I sneak in I can let them think I got in earlier than I did."

"That's called _lying_,"

"That's called _selective truthfulness_." Kairi smiled sweetly but tiredly, and hugged Sora one last time, kissing his cheek. "G'night, guys."

"Night Kairi!"

"See ya at one on the island," Riku waved at her as they stumbled down the path. "If you feel up to it tomorrow." As they continued on their way, Leah heard Sora mumble something incoherent and Riku retorted with, "Dude, you are _not_ getting a kiss outta me!"

"Go-!" Sora spun round and pointed at him angrily, struggling to think of something insulting to say. "Suck on a lemon!" he said finally, and stalked off ahead, wobbling a bit as he went.

Riku frowned deeply, then pulled a face as he spun round and marched after him. "Just…_what_?"

"Kyo said it!" Sora said brightly, his energy and vigour returning even as Riku's appeared to ebb further away.

They stopped by Sora's house, and Leah continued on, her mind wondering over what she had heard, and feeling a little ashamed of herself for eaves dropping. A few of the streetlights along this road wasn't working, and she tentatively made her way through the darkness. The grouchy old man who lived in the large house on the left often trimmed his hedges and trees, and didn't clean up the mess is made on the pavement, and she didn't fancy twisting an ankle. When something knocked into her shins, she thought at first it was just a cat, or maybe a stray dog. When it happened again, only with more force, she stumbled, and caught her foot on something in the dark so she fell forwards, grazing her knees and forcing a yelp from her.

There were running footsteps from behind, and she heard a sharp intake of breath followed by a couple of grunts, and a weird sound she had never heard before and didn't know how to begin to describe. A bit like…a cross between a _whooshing_ sound and the noise of paper being shredded. Leah looked up to see what was happening, and blinked.

For a moment, it looked like Riku was stood facing her at a slight angle, with a long sort of sword, and an orb of light in his hand.

Then she looked again, and he was holding a long stick and had a torch in his left hand. He walked over to her, clearly pushing through his weariness and looking gravely concerned.

"Are you all right?"

Even in the gloom cast by the night sky and the absence of proper street lighting, he still had the most bright, vivid blue eyes she had ever seen. It made her heart do a wonderful and annoying little skip.

"Yeah, I'm fine…I just tripped in the dark over something," she explained, trying to get to her feet.

Poor Riku looked exhausted himself, but he still helped her up, and held his torch up to check the surrounding area as if he was searching for something.

"What were you _doing_ out here?" he demanded suddenly, his face a grave mask that startled her.

"Err, I was going to Lu's house."

"It's dangerous out here, you could've been hurt!" he insisted.

Leah blinked. "But, by what? Old Man Winter's didn't bother clearing up after he pruned his garden again, that's all. And I think I kicked a stray cat in the dark. It's really not that dangerous." She added with a slight sniff – she _hated_ guys who were chauvinistic. Not that she thought Riku was chauvinistic… "I'm perfectly capable of walking across town by myself."

It irked her slightly to see Riku smile at this, though there was a rather ironic twist to it. "Yeah, a cat…"

He didn't believe her, plain and simple. Was it so hard to believe she had tripped over a cat?

"What is with you?" she snapped, folding her arms and for a moment forgetting herself. "Why are you even here? With a weird torch and a stick? Who's going to attack me, anyway?"

Riku blinked, and then looked away. It wasn't like he was avoiding her gaze and her questions, but more like he was straining to locate something in the darkness. "No one." He said somewhat cryptically. "Just…" he turned back to her, raising the torch to shine over a wider area, revealing the multitude of garden clippings that littered the pavement. "You shouldn't really be out by yourself at night, _especially_ in the Dark."

Leah frowned, trying to understand. The way he said the word _dark_, was almost as if he meant something else, that was beyond her comprehension. "Why?" she asked, wishing that she _did_.

"Umm, err- well!" he ran a hand through his hair, the stick in his hands clattering to the ground in the process. "Y'know! You could've broken a leg and then died of hypothermia and we wouldn't know till morning!"

Leah's eyes grew wide and then she burst out laughing. "You're funny sometimes, Riku!" she giggled, and he chuckled nervously. Then she saw something that made her eyes grow wide again, but this time with shock and concern. "Riku! What happened to you?" There were nasty looking cuts under his chin and around his neck, and they were red and inflamed with infection.

"Nothing," he said hastily, sweeping her hand aside and tilting his head at an angle to hide the wounds.

"What on earth were you three doing?" she demanded. "How did you get those?"

"Accident." He said quickly, and when she raised an eyebrow he went on, "I fell in a bush."

"A _bush_." She said flatly.

"It was Sora's fault."

"Uh-huh." She wasn't in the least bit convinced. "So, I seem to remember you went to help some friends earlier. What exactly were you helping them with?"

Riku gave a rather dry laugh and said, somewhat sarcastically but with genuine humour, "Had a little _pest control_ problem, but we took care of it."

Leah smiled despite the awkward tension between them, but she was still really concerned for his well being. Angry red welts were starting to develop around the gashes, and it looked really painful.

"Riku, are you _sure_ you're okay? That looks painful,"

He was looking at his shoes when he answered. "Trust me, I've had way worse."

Leah just looked at him, wishing she could do something to help. Riku was the 'mysterious' type – there was no doubt about that; it was a bit aggravating that he was constantly disappearing, and whenever he was around he was with Sora and Kairi. They didn't even go to school, opting for a home tutor instead – it was like fate didn't want her to get to know him better. But still, he was way nicer than Keith; whenever she spoke to him he was always friendly, pretty funny at times, and despite that rather tough and mysterious air he had that made many a girl around town swoon, he was actually rather sweet and endearingly awkward. It was just all the niggly little things about his timetable that were beyond her knowledge that somewhat ruined their relationship.

"C'mon," she said, taking him by the wrist, which she suddenly realised was bandaged.

"Huh?" Riku stared at her blankly.

"I said, _c'mon_. I'm taking you home."

"What?" his look of amazement was rather cute, but then he fully grasped the situation and blanched. "No! I mean, I should be walking _you_ home. I can't let you stay out here by yourself-!"

"I'm only going to Lu's. And she lives opposite you, right?" she reminded him gently with a smile.

_That_ shut him up, but not for long. "I can't let you walk home by yourself,"

"I'm staying the night."

"Oh." He blinked, possibly feeling a little stupid, and she laughed good-naturedly. His surprised expression was quite endearing.

"I can't let _you_ go home alone like this. You look like you've been in the wars with all that," she raised her free hand to emphasise the quotation marks, "'_pest control_' you've been up to."

Riku's face flushed, but he didn't resist when she gave a tug on his arm, and let her lead the way. He kept craning his neck as if looking for something in the shadows around him, and she tried surreptitiously to look as well, but she couldn't detect anything in the sleepy dark town. She walked him right up to the door of his house, and he stood for a moment awkwardly, running a hand through his hair and biting his lip.

"Err…thanks, Leah. You didn't have to do this, you know."

"Riku, you should really go to bed. And get that checked out tomorrow, it looks like it's infected." He tried to shrug it off, but she took both his wrists in her hands and said pleadingly, "_Please_, Riku. If you don't you could get really sick," she wanted to add, _and I don't want that to happen_, but she didn't quite have the courage to say it out loud to his face.

Despite his patchy attendance in their lives, Riku was rather admired and looked up to by their peers – mainly for his undying patience and rather comical relationship with Sora. They were both pretty popular and fun to hang out with (when they were actually around) but Sora wasn't available. He wasn't very overt about it, but he and Kairi were officially an item; they had the soft, low level edge with things like a simple sunset walk along the beach and sharing the same bowl of ice cream or smoothie shake – the sort of thing a lot of girls wished for in a boyfriend, though with the added bonus of blatant gestures involving chocolates and flowers. The usual drivel in films that Leah felt was rather over rated. They also didn't flirt extravagantly. They teased each other no end, but all in good humour, and just generally paid each other compliments and close attention.

Leah wished she had something like that herself, but between the blockheads at school and Riku's continued absences, she didn't have an awful lot of options. She really didn't like Keith, or his continued advances; he was one of those arrogant gits to whom the word '_No_' meant nothing at all. He was loud, like Sora, but not in the same way – he just wanted the world to know where he was and what he was doing and why that made him so awesome. Selphie had described the difference rather beautifully: Sora was loud because he was happy and wanted the entire world to be happy too; Keith was loud because he wanted to broadcast how much more amazing he was than the rest of them.

Riku was…loud in his own way, when he was baiting the other boys, especially Tidus and Sora, cajoling them into mock brawls, which he invariably won because he was so good at martial arts, though Sora was a close match these days. But if you caught him by himself he was much quieter and more reserved, and carried himself with a certain grace and dignity, as though he was confident in himself and his abilities – until he was caught by a bunch of girls. Then he started falling over his own feet and stumbling on his words. It was sweet and funny to watch, and it made her feel happy when he did the same thing in her company, only his blush was more pronounced. Or was that wishful thinking?

All these thoughts whirled around in her mind as she looked up at him, pleading with him to take care of himself.

"Err, yeah," he rubbed his chin unconsciously. "I did get it looked at already, but,"

"Then get them checked again." She pressed.

Riku smiled nervously and said, "Yeah, okay. My mom's gonna kill me…"

Leah smiled, and pressed his hands, satisfied. "You take care of yourself." She turned to leave, and hesitated when his grip on her hand tightened, and she was startled by the deep sincerity in his stunningly bright eyes under the porch light.

"I really don't think you should walk by yourself,"

"It's just over there," she pointed at the house directly opposite across the street. Lulu's parents were in, and every one else would be there by now. "Really, I'll be fine. You just concentrate on yourself for the moment. You look exhausted."

Riku still didn't look happy, and outright scowled when she grabbed the doorknocker and rapped smartly three times.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. There was a study session scheduled by one of their teachers down in the park for the Easter science exams, and then they were all going to go for ice cream afterwards, and Leah wanted a legitimate excuse for not going with Keith. If she had no specific plans to be somewhere with someone, in his version of reality it was perfectly all right for him to become a specific plan himself.

"Yeah!" Riku said, gripping her hands again. "Definitely!" he blinked and looked down to see him holding her hands, then let go abruptly, a little startled with himself.

Leah suppressed a giggle. "I'll get going then. Good night!" she said, turning towards the garden path.

"Good night!" Riku called after some hesitation, rushing to get the words out.

"Sleep well!" she said, sliding the garden gate shut behind her. Leah walked across the well lit street, and looked over her shoulder when she heard the front door slam; by the time she was turning again to look back after she had rung Lu's doorbell, she saw the light was on in Riku's room, and he was watching her from the window. It would have been creepy, if not for his earlier concerns for her safety, and the rather tense set to his posture that relaxed the moment the door opened. He smiled and waved at her, and she waved back, smiling reflexively. Well, he might be a little obsessive over safety, but it was nice to know he genuinely cared for her well being. "What?" she asked when she saw Lulu's expression.

"Who were you waving at? And what did you do to your knees?"

Leah blinked and looked down. "Huh?" blood was congealed on her legs around and just below her knees. "Oh – I tripped,"

"Get in," Lulu grabbed her and pulled her inside. "I'll get some plasters,"

Leah tried to get a look at Riku's house before the door closed, and by the time she had managed to surreptitiously get to a window, the light in his bedroom was out. Well, that was hardly surprising considering the shadows under his eyes, though it still left her feeling a little disappointed as the rest of the girls broke out the nail polish and curling tongs, forgetting about her grazed knees and the darkness outside beyond the brightly lit windowpanes.

XOXOX

"Where have you-?"

"Sorry mom!" Riku tore down the hallway, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl at he went. "Major operation! Oh," he hung over the banisters just long enough to say, "And don't go out tonight – the Heartless are out. Gotta go!"

He flew up the stairs and skidded into his room, rushing to the window to make sure Leah made it to Lulu's home across the street, prepared to jump through the window and expose his Keyblade to their scrutiny if he had to. She made it there without any Heartless tagging along, and he felt so relieved when she was safely inside the bright house. They exchanged waves, and he cringed at the cheesiness of it all, especially the way he'd tried to persuade her not to go alone. Her concern for him was nice and all, and left his stomach full of pleasant butterflies, but his heart had almost given out when he saw the Heartless creeping after her – getting as close as to brush against her legs! If only he could tell her the truth, so she knew and understood the very real danger she had been in – but of course he couldn't. That would be 'meddling'.

Riku scoffed the banana down ravenously, and went to check himself in the mirror after he'd pulled his ripped shirt off, wondering whether it could be stitched back together. He stared at the angry red swelling around the cuts, and suddenly realised why _Leah_ had decided _he_ needed to be walked home. He had passed out at one point, but he had thought along with Aerith at the time he was just in shock, pain, and dehydrated. Maybe Leah was right and he needed this to be looked at more closely…but who on this island would understand such an injury? Mel was lucky that she had been treated almost instantly – but she'd lost an awful lot of blood as well on top of everything, and he would have been very surprised if she didn't pick up an infection after the battering she had taken. He wondered vaguely as he chugged a glass of water whether anyone else had received similar angry red welts, he knew Terra had taken a blow to the chest, and he started to feel rather anxious about it.

When he had finally fallen into bed, Riku fell asleep almost instantly, and to him it felt as though he had _just_ closed his eyes when someone jumped onto his bed.

"Riku!" Sora bellowed, drawing the last vowel sound out annoyingly.

He stuck his head out of the covers just long enough to ascertain the sun was up, and that according to his alarm clock it was half past two.

"Hey! Riku, c'mon! We've been waiting for you for _hours_!" Sora whined, tugging at the blankets. "You said we'd go have ice cream!" he shouted accusingly.

"That's _not_ what I said." Riku groaned, trying to hide.

"Get out of that dark hole right now!" Sora commanded.

"I'm tired."

"You've been asleep all day!" he moaned. "C'mon! You were the one who said to meet up today!"

"Sora," Riku said with as much civility through his gritted teeth as was humanly possible. "I'm tired, I hurt all over, I saw Heartless creeping around here last night, _I don't want any ice cream_."

There was a long pause, in which Sora was probably pulling his ridiculous 'thinking face'. That was fine by Riku, maybe he could fall asleep quickly and free himself from this nightmare…

"Well, what _do_ you want?" came the eventual response.

"For you to piss off and let me sleep." Riku growled, trying to bury himself as deeply as possible. His head hurt, his throat and chin hurt, his _pride_ was hurt…he just hurt. A _lot_.

"Fine!" Sora snapped, and there were ominous footsteps that sounded suspiciously like a stalk, leading towards the door. "I'll set Kairi on you!"

"You do that…" Riku grumbled, trying to get comfortable.

Of course, had he been more aware and cognitively able at the time, he would have been worried by that threat.

Kairi stormed in like an avenging angel and ripped the covers off the bed a few minutes later.

"Get your lazy butt outta bed _right now_." She snarled with a vengeance, and her expression brooked no resistance. "You are _not_ staying inside on a glorious day like this, and you are going to go outside and soak up some of the vitamin D and not sit here in the dark like a- a Dark crazed zombie! Have I made myself clear!?"

Riku was sat up on his bed, just staring at her dumbly. Sora was hovering in the doorway, a little apprehensive after he had gone through his threat.

"_And_," she added imperiously as she went through a pile of clean washing on his desk. "Once you're dressed and we've had ice cream, we are going back to Radiant Garden so they can have a look at those cuts." She threw a clean shirt at him, and then a fresh pair of jeans. "Leah saw me earlier and said she was worried about you when she saw you last night. Your mom's making omelettes, so hurry up." She marched up to Sora and poked him in the chest, making him jump. "You make sure he actually gets out of bed!" and then she swept off downstairs leaving a ringing silence in her wake.

Riku looked up at Sora, and then back down again, shaking his head. "You _ever_ bring her here again like that to be an alarm clock _again_, and I'll kill you."

"I didn't think she'd go absolutely crazy like that!" Sora insisted meekly.

Resigned to his doom, Riku got up and got dressed rather haphazardly, and stumbled to the small sink in the corner to brush his teeth. He didn't bother brushing his hair, and by the time they made it to the kitchen, his parents had already left for work; Kairi stood over him while he ate, and waited impatiently while he downed two glasses of water in a row.

"Wow, you sure are thirsty!" Sora observed as they finally left the house.

"Aren't you?" Riku asked, wincing and rubbing his head. It felt like a pickaxe was going to town on the inside of his skull.

"Well, I was when I woke up." Sora beamed his usual happy grin. He wouldn't be Sora without it, but it still was annoying as hell at times – especially when Riku wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. "Hey, ice creams on me!"

"Hey, I'll pay for mine," Kairi volunteered, but Sora shook his head.

"Nope." He said, lowering her hand with her purse. "I lost the bet! Next ten rounds are on me, guys?"

"What bet?" Riku muttered to himself, pining for his pillow.

"You know," Sora tipped him a huge wink while Kairi watched them both suspiciously. "The bet about how we couldn't bake a cake as good as Aqua? Well, we certainly failed, just like you said we would! So, I'm getting the ice creams!"

Riku sat down by the fountain in the square while his best friend bounced off towards the shops. He jumped when he saw the narrow glare he was getting from Kairi.

"Gees, what now?" he snapped.

"I don't trust you." She hissed."

"Bully for you."

"You two are up to something."

"You're paranoid."

Kairi glowered for a moment, shoulders hunched like a vulture before she poked him hard in the chest. "I don't like you."

"I don't like _you_." He snarled in response. He just wanted to sleep – was that seriously too much to ask for?!

"Hey guys!" Sora trilled, returning like a tsunami and flooding them with cold and tasty treats. "They were doing a special deal thing, so I got some ice lollies too!"

Much as he was annoyed with his friends for denying him sleep, Riku perked up when he was presented with a lemon-flavoured lolly; it was his favourite.

They moved on to avoid the crowds that were starting to appear and meandered down to the beach. They found a nice piece of driftwood to sit on, and sat in tranquil silence for a while, slurping on first the ice-lollies and then the ice cream cones. Kairi got strawberry ice juice all over herself, and the two boys laughed while she scowled; Sora's blueberry lolly stained his tongue an alarming shade of blue that had them both giggling while he demanded obliviously to know what was so funny. The ice cream itself was a mixture of chocolate and fudge – Riku wasn't sure what the sugar would do to his arteries, but for the moment he couldn't quite find it in him to care, and indulged in the unhealthy food.

When they finished, Kairi began to state that they should go to Radiant Garden, but Riku hastily refuted her. After nearly half an hour of trying to convince her that he just needed to sleep, and with Sora whining on his behalf, she soon gave in – _for once_. After so many misadventures that often involved leaving her behind, Kairi had become quite accomplished at twisting their arms, and it was really down to Riku's fatigue, and Sora's sudden wave of exhaustion coupled with the promise of more ice cream that defeated her.

"You two." She murmured to herself, shaking her head as they both collapsed on the sand side by side with a groan.

"You got a head ache too?" Riku turned his head to look at Sora, who was pulling a pained expression.

"Yeah. And my brain feels like it's frozen…" he groaned, clutching at his skull.

"You idiot…" Riku sighed and laid back to watch the sky. Well, at least his second wind was gone – it was good to know Sora really was a human, with human urges, like the one to sleep…

"Besides," Sora sat up slowly, stretching and yawning widely, continuing their earlier conversation. "If we went now they'd probably be packing up for the day. We can always go some other time, Kairi. Leon'll just send us straight back if he sees us yawning, or dying," he shot Riku a look, and he glowered back. "Aww, cheer up! At least you came outside for a while. The sun is _good_ for you! You get loads of vitamins from it and everything,"

"That's only Vitamin D, idiot." Riku sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was really missing his pillow… "And you can get it from fish, too…"

"I still think Ansem needs to have a look at Riku," Kairi said petulantly. She had made up her mind that they had won…for now.

Riku guessed she wouldn't let them whine their way out of it for much longer.

"But hey, the swelling's gone down, it's just a bit red. I'm sure Riku's gonna be just fine." Sora said bracingly. "What?" he asked when Riku sniggered.

Riku was still lying down, and Sora was sat up, so Riku nudged him with his shoe and said, "If I die of an infection tonight I'm coming back to haunt you," he stated with a tired smile.

Sora's responding grin was infectious, and despite himself Riku felt like rallying. "Oh _yeah_?"

"_Yeah_!" Riku sat up, and had to steady himself for a moment because he felt dizzy. Luckily, Kairi was gazing out across the beach and didn't notice, and Sora tacitly said nothing so as not to feed Kairi's need to get them all off to Radiant Garden on the double.

XOXOX

"How's she doing?" Terra demanded the moment he saw Lynn exiting the castle. She had taken an extended shift today to watch Mel after a few 'health episodes', and had stayed much longer than most, as she had done all week, so she had been able to get a better gauge on her recovery. It was also on the grounds that she couldn't possibly over exert herself and damage her arm further while she was sitting with Mel, though only Rhiannon liked to bring that fact up.

"Yeah, yeah. Her stitches itch and she's bored out of her mind, but she's fine apart from that. She didn't take a nap all afternoon," Lynn seemed rather bright on that note, although she looked a bit tired herself.

Mel had said to Terra that Lynn was absolutely _fascinating_ to talk to, and quite a good storyteller, though he had yet to here her spinning a real tale for pure enjoyment – the ones he had heard were usually along the lines of silliness but embedded into something hard and scientific, and mildly helpful for a particular problem at hand.

"You going anywhere?"

"Down to HQ. Merlin wanted me to get some more brooms because Leo chewed a couple to pieces."

Lynn snorted and looked at the pile of brooms stacked against a wall nearby. "Lo, the mighty Dragon must sharpen his mighty teeth, and for that he requires a sacrifice of virgin broomsticks!" she had raised both arms in a grand gesture, her left arm still bound in a sling and moving rather awkwardly in comparison to her right. With her very tall, thin stature, it gave her a rather unbalanced look, which was emphasised by the almost dazed expression she was giving him as he stared at her. "What?"

"Do you always say weird stuff like that?"

"Well," she adopted a more blank expression, as she often did though never around Rhiannon, and Terra was starting to correlate such expressions with tiredness, and noticed that the last time she had pulled such a face around Rhiannon she had received a smack for her troubles. "I had a mate at Uni who listened to this Radio program called _Old Harry's Game_, and my other mates and I and one of their brother's used to quote it all the time to piss everyone else off. Mind you that little slight on Leo's part was a _massive _deviation from the original, but the spirit's about the same."

"Right." Terra had also learnt to just not bother questioning her when she said odd things. When they were both in a good mood, Lynn and Rhiannon could bounce many weird and wonderful phrases and dialogues off each other with rapid succession before wandering off together cackling like old women while everyone watched them go in bewilderment.

They gathered up an able armful each, and set off for the boroughs where the Committee HQ was located. Terra barely noticed the way Lynn's hands still tapped out various beats against the brooms and her own collar bone – he was accustomed to the impromptu percussion sessions she often started out of nowhere. It was a bit like how Aqua sometimes hummed under her breath, Mel would start playing air piano, or Ven would pick up a stick and start messing around with it. It was just simply a unique and idiosyncratic trait, and surprisingly a rather soothing one, Terra had discovered. He found he quite enjoyed sitting next to her when she started playing out drumming patterns, though when she wore her sling it restricted her left hand rather a lot. He was so caught up in the tapping of her fingers against the brooms, he almost missed Leon calling his name.

"Come here!"

He looked at Lynn, who shrugged dramatically with a dull expression on her face that was probably there for effect, and they turned to towards him. Leon was stood in the street, just a bit farther up from Merlin's house, and gave them instructions on what to do with the brooms, and very strict instructions on keeping Leo away from the tools.

Terra sighed, but listened all the same, and when Leon was done, they continued down the road so they could cut across the back streets that were now free of rubble and save themselves some time. Leo seemed to have developed something of an anxiety disorder; he was _not_ happy about leaving Mel's side, even if it was to help the town, and he seemed just as shaken up by his attack of the black panther like creature as Terra and Ven were. Without the constant supervision, especially from Mel who was very sensitive and attuned to his needs, Leo had started chewing as if he were teething all over again – hence the replacement brooms. Aqua was so busy trying to help everyone with everything; she hadn't managed to find a solution, though she tried her very best with her limited time. Ven had stated he was going to shove off home if she kept acting like a maniac, and much as Terra wanted to do the same, he knew he couldn't dump Aqua in it al by herself. They must be the only things keeping her mildly sane by this point.

"Think Merlin wants a broomstick?" Lynn asked suddenly, her drumming never faltering.

"Dunno. Leo hasn't been round here recently has he?"

"Merlin was ranting about a tea pot the other day and Leo's name was in there somewhere." Lynn shrugged dully.

"Admit it," Yuffie appeared suddenly and skipped past with a huge grin. "You just like stopping by for the free cake!"

Terra gave Lynn a searching look and she scowled.

"What do I give a shit what you think of me? Free food is free food. Oh come off it! You don't interrogate Ven like this!"

"Nah, I just give him a noogie." Terra grinned at her. "But I can't do that. Not to a cripple."

"Oh _shut up_, dickhead." She snapped, hunching her shoulders and storming onward.

Terra was chuckling to himself when he became aware that Lynn had stopped dead in her tracks and was staring at someone stood just outside Merlin's house. He looked up to find a rather plain looking young woman with very long hair that was borderline dark blonde come a sort of chestnutty colour, and from this distance eyes that were discernable as just pale. Her skin was fair, and she was wearing black leggings and a rich brown shirt that was ever so slightly baggy and hung on her frame rather artfully, with a black leopard emblazoned on the front. Her boots had a buckle that identified her as a Mage from a Guild – though which one escaped him – and she had a large leather satchel slung over her shoulder with the same emblem described in fine detail on the flap. She looked as startled as Lynn, and then smiled nervously and shuffled on the spot while Merlin watched with bemusement.

"Yes, I don't believe you've met our guest. Ah, meet Masters Terra and Evalyn of the Keyblade, and this is Rosie Kingfisher of the Ladonier Mage Guild."

"Err, hey Evie," she said softly, raising a hand and waving uncertainly, her mouth twisting up at the corner and her eyes creasing with an impending smile. Her accent reminded Terra of Mel a bit, though the inflection of her voice was more variable against Mel's ever soft and calm tones. "Rhia said you were in town."

"What the bloody hell you doing here?!" Lynn demanded, dropping the brooms in her arm with an almighty clatter. She winced suddenly and rushed towards her, as if expecting her to pass out, and stopped short a single pace away and stared at her with even more amazement. "And why didn't you just die?"

"Well, to the first question – surprise!" she flung her arms out in celebration. "Rhia went to go get you so she'd have the satisfaction of seeing that expression and possibly to toy with you but I suppose you ruined her fun now by turning up here at this precise moment in time." She lowered her arms. "And secondly," here she beamed, and the simple change in expression suddenly gave an extra dimension to her appearance, and Terra realised she was actually really rather pretty. "I'm cured!"

Lynn just stared at her dumbly, her expression completely blank – whether from lack of emotion or just plain shock, it was really hard to tell.

"Y'wha'?" she said eventually.

"We are a Keyblade Master, not a fish," the woman waved a finger in her face, and then grinned, giving the impression of a pretty teenager rather than a plain woman. "Do you remember that Healer we met who told me about those really strong antibiotics? I managed to learn more about them and track down a reliable supplier in my home world and took a trial period with my GP watching my liver counts carefully – and I was cured in about six months!"

"Bloody hell!" Lynn shouted, and then winced, before staring at her in even more amazement. "You're not keeling over? Who the hell are you and what did you do with Rosie!"

She clapped her hands and bounced on the spot. "I'm free! I'm cured! Look, see? I can jump up and down and _everything_!" Lynn continued to stare at her, and she sobered up. "I won't lie to you, Evie. But you are starting to scare me a little."

"But what the hell you _doing_ here?!" she exploded, and Terra stepped forward in case he needed to intervene. They may appear to be friends, but he wasn't quite sure where Lynn would draw the line with her; she hadn't as yet attempted to go after Aerith, Tifa, or Aqua, possibly because Aerith was impossible to dislike, and the other two women could be rather scary at times. She had however tried punching Cloud in a fit of childish temper – _once_.

"What's going on, exactly?" Terra asked, more than a bit lost by this point

"Huh?" Lynn turned round and blinked at him, as though she had forgotten he was there. "Oh. Right," she turned back to the woman and gestured at him with her good hand, sailing through the pleasantries with a certain level of detachment. "This is m'mate Terra, he's another Keyblade Master." She looked at Terra again and went on, "This is my crazy Mage friend I shared a house with for two years at Uni. Rosie's a Psycho student."

"That's _Psychology_ with _Counselling_." Rosie said with a warm smile that transformed her features. She then smiled at Terra and bowed at the waist, hands clasped together. "It's very nice to meet you, Master Terra."

Terra wasn't sure he'd ever _really_ get used to it, being referred to the way people referred to his Master. At times he felt he didn't deserve it, but he knew no matter how powerful a Mage happened to be, they were out ranked by the Keyblade. That was why Master Yen Sid was so highly revered still. Terra put a hand over his heart and bowed in response to her greeting, mumbling, "And you, too."

Rosie smiled pleasantly before it became an accusing grin that she turned onto Lynn. "And you haven't changed all that much, have you."

Lynn jumped as if she had been electrocuted and stared at her as if for the first time.

"Now _you're_ acting like a Lyme loony!" Rosie pointed at her and laughed. It was quite a melodious sound.

"OI!"

"Oh great," Lynn rolled her eyes and scowled, turning to face away from them as Rhiannon stormed over. Terra took a big step out of the way, and Merlin coughed loudly, receiving a dour look in response. "What the hell do _you_ want, you stupid bint?"

"Evie," Rosie said with a slight frown, but Rhiannon wasn't happy and wouldn't be silenced by anything.

"Why did you go lookin' for her, eh?"

"Well, I was talking to Merlin like I had originally planned to before I bumped into you, and Evie just sort of appeared here so I couldn't exactly pretend that I wasn't here already, could I?"

"You," Lynn rounded on Rhiannon with an angry look that made even the stout woman accustomed to her temper take a step back. "You trying to ambush me or what? S'bad enough how _you_ greeted me after all those years!"

"Years you spent gallivanting off-!?" Rhiannon began, but Rosie stuck herself firmly in between them, and Lynn instantly backed off.

"Okay you two, seriously. Clam down. It wasn't intentional," she said to Rhiannon, and then to Lynn, "I think Rhia just wanted to make a playful song and dance like how Kenny does. All right?"

"No, it 'ent!"

"So what seems to be the problem?"

Terra blinked. He was amazed that Rosie could stand so calmly and talk things out with Lynn without getting riled up herself. Lynn had encouraged several people into shouting matches with her, who usually didn't go in for that sort of behaviour.

"Problem?" Lynn said weakly. "What do _you_ think? And besides the point, why 'ent you dead yet?"

There had to be another meaning to what she was saying, Terra was sure of it.

Rosie grinned again and laughed. "I told you, I'm cured. I was on that antibiotic drug roll of doom for seven months, I was completely symptom free in six but I wanted to make absolutely certain. So here I stand, a whole woman and dying for a hug from my Uni buddy who I haven't seen in about five years!"

Lynn didn't move as the smaller woman put her arms around her, but she eventually responded albeit slowly and stiffly. She raised her head, looking straight through Rhiannon and her tight expression, looking as though she were in pain, before burying her face in Rosie's hair, trying to hide from the world. She had to bend down because Rosie was probably just a little under average height, and Lynn was so exceptionally tall. They just stood there for a while, and Terra felt uncomfortably as if he were intruding on a deeply personal moment.

Thankfully, Merlin saved him by saying, "Terra, would you be a sport and take this book to Ansem? He's been asking after it for a while, and I had to dig through the mess those infernal Heartless left behind,"

He slipped inside, picked up the leather bound volume and tip toed past the scene outside. Lynn was still clinging to Rosie, and she was shaking as if she were trying to stave off sobs, and Rhiannon was stood behind her with a hand on her shoulder, looking pained and upset but staunchly resolute.

XOXOX

Ven watched with curiosity as Rhiannon introduced everyone to the new comer. Rosie was apparently a close friend of Lynn and Kenny's from their University days, as well as an accomplished Mage; she wasn't as small as Mel, but she wasn't exactly tall either – probably around the average mark. Her waist-length hair was darkish, with remnants on blonde in it, and her eyes were the same bluish-grey of fine flint. At first she seemed rather ordinary, her clothes non-descript and her looks plain, but as he was watching Lynn cracked a joke that had her almost in tears with laughter, and the smile she gave changed her whole appearance and displayed a rather unique quality of beauty that lingered even after her smile relaxed. When she was introduced to him she had given a somewhat formal and respectful greeting that involved bowing, which Ven had never really understood, but her smile was reassuring enough when he met her gaze again.

Rosie had apparently come seeking guidance from Merlin, not knowing either Rhiannon or Lynn were in town, but she had been given the heads up before she bumped into Lynn so she didn't end up throttling her out of surprise. Ven thought she was taking the news rather well. In fact, she was taking it a damn sight better than Lynn was taking her own news.

"But I just don't understand!" Lynn wrung her hands in Rosie's face, and her friend sighed and folded her arms in a passive gesture and raised her eyebrows with a slight smile. "You should be dying by now!"

"Charming." Rosie said quietly to herself. Then more loudly, "I told you, I took the antibiotic course I spent so long trying to figure out properly, and I got better." There was a small commotion nearby and Yuffie squealed as a mid sized dog with short brown speckled fur and a white blaze across its face came running out of a side alley and bounced to Rosie's side where it sat down and looked up at her with undiluted adoration. "Balders! So the door isn't quite fool proof yet, is it? Come here," she crouched down beside the dog and gave it a big hug while it reached to lick her face.

Ven grinned and gestured at the dog, who was having its fur lovingly roughed up while Rosie and Lynn cooed over it. He said, "So who's this?"

"Yeah? 'Ent seen this gorgeous bastard before!"

"This is Baldrick. I got him from the animal arc just under a year ago. And this is my friend Evie!" she said to the dog in the sort of voice they used to use on Leo when he was still a chick, a voice they daren't use lest he give them a sound smack with his strong tail. "Say hello!" Her accent was very similar to Mel's, but her tone was a slightly higher pitch and modulated more often, where as Mel tended to be calm and consistent, and quieter.

Lynn couldn't use her left arm to counter balance her weight properly, and as a result fell over when Baldrick nosed his way closer to her affectionately.

"Come on then, away, Balders. Come on!"

Lynn sat up with a distinctly ruffled appearance and stared at Rosie blankly.

"Something wrong, Evo?" she beamed, petting the dog lovingly.

"_Baldrick_." She stated flatly as she stared at the woman before her.

"Yes, Baldrick."

"_Baldrick_?!"

"No need to shout," Rosie winced, and brushed her away when Lynn lunged for her with a worried expression. "I'm right here. And I'm _fine_,"

"You're not gonna drop dead on me, right? No hidden brain problems I have to deal with by myself?"

"Oh shut up." Rosie said coolly. "I told you-"

"Yeah, but what about hidden problems that haven't healed yet?" Lynn said quickly and loudly, like a child exaggerating for effect. "The neurones and stuff in your brain won't have had time to repair all the damage yet, if you've only been cured for a couple'a months."

In response, the Mage rolled her eyes and sighed, shading her eyes with a free hand as she looked down and said, "Mmmm and _I_ was the paranoid one?"

"Peh!" Lynn spat, jerking away and glaring into the clear blue sky that somehow made the humidity all the worse for its pristine colour. "I'm insulted!"

"What's new?" Rosie sighed, rubbing Baldrick's head.

"Um." Terra looked like he wanted to ask something but didn't quite dare, and Ven guessed what it was so he went up and asked instead.

"Hey Rosie,"

"Yes?" she looked up with a pleasant smile, still giving her dog much welcome attention.

"What does Lynn mean when she talks about you 'dying'?"

"Oh yes," she gave Lynn a side ways glance that was returned, with apparent humour. "_That_. Well, until about three months ago I suffered from a medical condition that manifested in a number of different ways. And I spent much of my time at Uni being picked off the floor by poor old Kenny and _that_ thing," she pointed with her thumb, and Lynn waved merrily, unphased by the abuse. "As well as several of our house mates and friends on my course."

"She was such a pain in the neck!"

"No one asked you skip all those house parties just for my sake. I was perfectly happy at home with _Hitchhikers _and my _Wildlife _magazine while you were off living your lives."

"And leave you with all the strawberries?" Lynn clapped a hand over her mouth and gasped. "Are you mad, woman?!"

"Quite possibly." Rosie raised her eyebrows innocently before she looked back up at Ven and said, "We're just having a little trouble wrapping our minds around the concept that I can exist without needing constant supervision."

"But…what exactly was wrong with you?" Ven asked. He'd never heard of this thing before.

"Well, essentially it's a chronic bacterial blood infection, but if you're unlucky like me and don't get it treated for several years after the initial infection, the Borrelia spirochetes that cause the disease get into every system in the body. I had all the classic flu like symptoms and extreme fatigue, reactive arthritis, cognitive impairments ranging from moderate to severe, neuralgia, air hunger, problems with my memory, and emotional instability."

"You left out that stammer."

"Yes, thank you Evie for reminding me." Rosie raised her eyebrows without turning to look at Lynn.

Ven guessed that was something she'd rather not be reminded of.

"But…you're okay now, right?" he felt the need to check. She _looked_ healthy, but the way Lynn was behaving it was as though she was anticipating Rosie's imminent collapse.

In response, she smiled warmly and shook her head. "This one's over reacting."

"When I don't over react she dies." Lynn said listlessly with her eyes half closed.

"I am _fine_." Rosie stated firmly, looking over at her. "See? Not short of breath or anything. And I can remember everything that happened in the last hour, let alone the last five minutes!"

Lynn lunged again and clapped her hands loudly in Rosie's face before standing back to watch with clinical detachment. She blinked in surprise before sighing and giving her friend a long-suffering look.

"Is this really necessary?"

"I need to feel secure in my own mind. This is a lot to take in."

Rosie's expression became incredibly hard to read, though the crease between her eyebrows – just slightly off centre – gave something of her thoughts away.

"You're telling _me_."

There was a long pause, and Ven turned to look at Terra when he heard him shuffling around, and noticed where his gaze was leading. Rhiannon was watching the two women either side of the dog, oblivious to the men watching her; her own expression was a mask of pain. Lynn was too absorbed in Rosie to notice her fellow Master and her own turmoil.

"It's the eye, innit?" she said eventually.

Rosie pulled a face before saying delicately. "Well, it is a little bit creepy, sweetheart. Has to be said. And not entirely flattering to your personality, either."

There was another long pause, and then Lynn burst out into violent paroxysms of laughter, startling everyone. Eventually, she calmed down enough to say, "Only _you_!" before she curled into a ball on her side on the cobblestones, still giggling as Baldrick nosed at her hand, begging for attention.

"But in all seriousness," Rosie said as Lynn dragged herself into a sitting position. "If you want to learn more about Lyme disease, do feel free to ask."

"Yeah, it's a massive problem in her home world," Lynn added, suddenly more serious. "Me and Kenny went through shed loads of research papers and that on the subject, and there's this whole political thing going on in the background which is why its so hard for people with it to get even diagnosed properly, let alone treated!"

"Like how?" Ven was curious and eager to learn more, but there was still a lot of work that needed doing that day, and besides – Rhiannon was getting very impatient with them. She looked somewhere between exasperation, anger and desperation while they stood around talking

"Well, I was given several diagnoses by different doctors," Rosie half frowned, with her lips curling upward at one end and she tilted her head slightly at an angle. "I apparently had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Depression…and Hypochondria was the last one I was given before someone mentioned chronic Lyme to me. My dad and I went away and read up on it, and eventually I started on the antibiotics."

"And here she stands!" Lynn sprang to her feet and waved her arms like a salesman. "A free woman!"

"Woohoo!" Rosie fist pumped the air.

"And she didn't even fall over! It's a bloody miracle!"

"It's called," Rosie rattled off a list of names Ven didn't even know how to pronounce, much less what they were. Possibly these medications she had been taking that Lynn was fussing so much over.

"You'll have to forgive these two," Rhiannon said loudly, drawing attention away from the two dancing woman who were now hugging. "When they get together they start preaching to everyone about the ins and outs of the disease, and generally don't shut up about it,"

"Well, I've been completely Lyme free for just a couple of months now," Rosie reasoned while the older woman shook her head. "So until recently it was a massive part of my life, so of course I talked about it a lot to anyone who would listen so we could spread the word. But I didn't come here to preach,"

"I will!" Lynn crowed in a singsong voice. "I'll tell the _entire_ multiverse!" she flung her arms out wide as if to embrace the sky itself. Her gesture was met with little more than indifference from either of her friends.

"Good luck with that. No, I came about this _book_…" Rosie lifted it out of her satchel. "And a few very interesting spells my Mentor didn't understand. That's why I came to find Merlin. And then you two appeared out of nowhere," she pointed from one to the other of the accused.

"'Ent my fault," Lynn sniffed, staring at the ground, but perking up when Baldrick trotted over to her again.

"So, you got everytin' you need now, pet?" Rhiannon asked.

Rosie looked around the mass of crates and lopsided tools spread around them. "Yes, I do now. Didn't you have a dog as well last time I saw you?"

"Oh, Tiggy." She rolled her eyes and hid her face in her palm while Ven and Lynn laughed. "I'm tinkin' of jus' handin' her over to Ashy. Bloody adores that girl,"

"I think she's sweet on Kyo too," Yuffie grinned.

"I did wonder," Rosie said, as if to herself. She shrugged and said, "Well, there's no _real_ need for me to disappear just yet, is there?" she shot Lynn a sly smile, which piqued her interest instantly.

"Speak, Caesar is turned to listen." She said arrogantly with a toss of her head to dispel a lock of hair from her eyes.

Rosie drew out the moment as long as possible, so Lynn's tension was at breaking point.

"I have a TARDIS."

Lynn blinked, as though what she had said hadn't sunk in properly. "Come again?"

"I found this lovely little gummi ship." Rosie said, speaking in sentences with a gap in between each for effect. "And Lars just mastered the Spell of Holding. So I asked him to come and charm my ship. And it worked. To great effect. It's _bigger_ on the inside than it is on the _outside_."

Lynn stared at her in awe before springing backwards, making everyone jump with the suddenness of her movement. "Holt shit _she's a Time Lord_!"

"Must we shout so?" Rosie winced.

"Oh, I thought that was a Nobody thing. She's really just like that?" Yuffie blurted out.

Ven winced inwardly on her behalf, but Lynn remained rather detached from the comment, though Rhiannon at first looked angry and then turned to her friend with a worried expression. Rosie raised an eyebrow, leaning her chin against her right hand for support as she studied said Nobody, her arms tucked in close to her body.

"Yes, she _really is_ just an obnoxious loud mouthed- hey!" Lynn had leant over and grabbed a fistful of her shirt, with an evil smirk.

"Now that you're no longer Sister Pestilence I'll have no qualms about slapping you into next century!"

Very calmly, Rosie reached for her bag and pulled out a black leather case from which she produced a pair of rather stylish electric-blue rimmed glasses. She placed them on the end of her nose and met Lynn's gaze with a very small, humorous smile.

"You wouldn't hit a psychologist with glasses, would you?" she asked sweetly.

Lynn's face fell, but she tried valiantly to keep it in position before she let go with disgust and stalked off. "Fine! Have it your way! Toy with what shreds of emotion I have left! _See if I care!_"

"Lynn, where you going?!" Yuffie shouted after her.

"Away from these dickheads!" came the response.

Ven filled his lungs. "I take offence to that!"

"Like I care!"

Rosie shook her head and laughed, Baldrick sat expectantly at her feet, tail wagging happily. "So," she stowed her glasses away and beamed at Rhiannon and Merlin. "Who wants to see the Mini TARDIS?"

Ven was surprised at how quickly Lynn returned and insinuated herself into Rosie's embrace.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful and fine your eyes are? Like the flint carved tools of our forbears that-!"

"I'm not really The Doctor, sorry to disappoint."

"Then I hate you, you stupid bint." She recited in a dual monotone, holding her friend at arm's length.

Rose grinned. "Want to see _Teh Ship_?"

Lynn scowled.

"What?"

"You _did not_ name it _Teh Ship,_ did you?" she in a deadened voice.

Ven was surprised by Rhiannon's expression at her tone; Lynn was just messing around, not being a zombie – her eyes were too full of irrepressible mischief for that.

"No," Rosie smiled, taking Lynn's hands and dragging her away. "Her name's _Flaire_. Care to meet her?"

"Flare?"

"With an 'i'. It was Lars' idea. You coming along then?"

"Aww _hell_ yeah!" Lynn grinned. She turned to Ven and mouthed with a thumbs up, "_She's a Time Lord!_" as Rosie pulled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I've only got the one collection of heart muscles."

"Who cares! Wooo TARDIS!" Lynn whooped, running on ahead. "Where you parked?"

"Next to _Epona_."

"I'm _so_ there!"

As Lynn skipped off into the distance, the others chuckling to themselves, Rhiannon walked up to Rosie and folded her arms, watching Lynn go.

"See what I mean?" she said quietly as Ven and Terra approached, and Ven had the distinct impression she didn't want to be overheard.

Rosie shrugged, still watching Lynn, who gestured impatiently from around a corner farther away, waving at Yuffie who ploughed on ahead to catch up. "Not really. She's a bit wound up, but that's understandable. A lot's happened. I don't quite see what the problem is."

Rhiannon scowled, but schooled her expression into neutrality when she noticed Ven and Terra watching.

"Can we see your ship too?" Ven asked eagerly. "I've been trying that spell for ages myself, it never works!"

Rosie beckoned and leant forward, pretending to whisper to him through a cupped hand. "It's a damn sight harder than it looks. I had to get a friend of mine to cast it for me so I didn't rip a whole in the space time continuum." To blank stare she received from Rhiannon at this, she said, "It was this TV series that Kenny…never mind, then."

XOXOX


	27. Stormy Weather

**AN: I apologise for the totally lame title that took me forever to think of… xD I hope to bring more action and fluff to the next chapter, which hopefully won't be that long in the works :)**

**I'd also like to say that since they're not in the disclaimer in my profile, I don't own the rights to any of the **_**Muppets**_** films, nor did I come up with the spoof **_**Potter Puppet Pals**_** – I just cribbed them for this story for their comedic value and I may return to them at a later date, but I take no credit for their creation ;) also, the tongue twister used in this chapter I learnt from a singing teacher. I've yet to meet someone who could say it perfectly three times over on their first attempt (I suck and always screw up unless I speak VERY slowly…) so yeah, I don't own that either, and have fun! ;)**

**Any thoughts or comments or suggestions you may have, please leave me a review and let me know – you're support is as always highly massively appreciated! :D**

_**Stormy Weather**_

"Please, Ven," Mel pleaded, trying to stop him from fussing over her. "I'm fine, _really_."

Ven looked unconvinced, and Aqua felt the same way. Mel looked terrible, in a word; dark rings marked her under her eyes, which looked rather feverish, and the lack of her green shirt in the humidity merely served to emphasise the livid wounds that marred her right shoulder and the right side of her face. They were mostly jagged lines, apart from the wonky semicircle that had been left by serrated teeth arcing from her neck to her collarbone. Her right arm was bound up in a sling – the deep wounds extending downwards towards her elbow – to give it a rest and a chance to heal; that was how they discovered something new about Mel.

Terra had made to move over and help her with her cereal the first morning she ate solid foods again, and was surprised when she hefted the spoon into her left hand expertly and began to feed herself without any clumsy movements. When he demanded an explanation of her, Mel jumped and stared up at him with wide-eyed surprise. Ven had rolled his eyes and raised a hand to tilt the bowl so she didn't spill anything with her attention diverted. Kyo had also raised an eyebrow and adopted a look that plainly said he wasn't amused by the proceedings.

"She's ambidextrous, _duh_." Ven told them scathingly, before going on to say in a kinder tone, "Eat up, or it'll go all soggy."

It had never come up in conversation, so Mel had never mentioned it, at least to Aqua or Terra. Either she had told Ven or he had simply noticed of his own accord, because Mel gave no hint either way and he said nothing as well on the matter. Though, Aqua supposed it made sense – she wielded two Keyblades with delicate finesse and for the most part, complete control. It was either a natural ability or a learned skill, given she had never been able to summon just the one Keyblade by itself.

Even with her right arm effectively out of commission, Mel managed to get by with her left hand quite well, and she grew very restless as her strength returned to her. She insisted on going outside, getting fresh air, _anything _to get her out of bed, and while Aqua didn't have the heart to deny her, she insisted Mel went nowhere without supervision. Especially after the first time she tried to stand up unaided she became dizzy and collapsed. The third time it happened Aqua thought she might burst into tears, but she set her jaw at a familiarly stubborn angle, and let Terra help her up again without comment.

Right now, they were outside in the town, and Mel was trying to convince them that she was all right – which of course they weren't buying. Leo was distraught, but had taken Mel's advice to heart, and was doing everything he could to help the Committee clean up; he was an excellent pack animal, and could shift heavy objects mostly unaided, so he was a valuable asset to their cause despite his reverting to certain habits they had thought he had completely outgrown in his distress. He wasn't happy about being separated from her, and it was only a matter of time before he slunk back and refused to budge from her side. That might just be as well, Aqua thought dimly. She had made sure Leo was always surrounded by people, too worried about what Terra had reported to her about their fight to be complacent about Leo's own safety.

"It's just a bit of sweeping," Mel tried to wheedle, and Aqua actually smiled at the use of the same tactic Kyo so often used to little avail on his sister to have his own way.

"It's physical work." Ven said flatly, trying to reach for the broom that she deftly spun out of his reach with the same skill she used to wield her weapons. He had stopped short of physically assaulting Mel to get the broom off her, but Aqua was considering facing her annoyance and possible anger just to be sure she didn't over exert herself.

"It's nothing too difficult or strenuous. I want to help."

"You won't be much help if you over do it and hurt yourself." Ven shot at her.

"Please, Mel." Aqua pleaded with her. "We're just worried about you. We don't want you back in that situation again if you over work yourself."

It was low, playing on her guilt like that; if there was anything that upset Mel more than her inability to help, it was the worry she caused her friends. She gave Aqua a pleading look of her own before unexpectedly sighing and letting her grip on the wooden shaft of the broom slip. Ven blinked, hardly daring to believe her submission before he darted in and grabbed it from her with no resistance at all.

Aqua walked over quietly while Ven whisked the broom and a few other implements out of reach, and laid her hands on the younger woman's shoulders, feeling the bandages and the fabric of the sling, as well as the way her muscles involuntarily tensed from the contact against her tender skin. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself…I'm sorry,"

"I just hate feeling like there's nothing I can do." Mel said quietly, looking away from her with a slight hitch to her voice. "I…don't like feeling like I have no control."

"I feel like that most days," Lynn said loudly as she strolled past, patting Mel on her good arm.

Lynn's friend whom Aqua had met the day before walked past, wincing. "There's really no need to shout so." Rosie said gently. She stopped just as Lynn went on and started talking to Ven; she bowed politely to Aqua as she had done before in greeting, before she turned to look at Mel with concern. "Good morning. I was wondering, if there might be something I can do to help you?"

"I'm not sure there is." Mel sighed, meeting the woman's gaze reluctantly. She had made a fuss about wanting to get out of bed, but faced with having to deal with a stranger, an unknown quantity, she evidently just wanted to throw in the towel.

"Well, I'm a Mage, and I know a few healing spells."

Aqua suppressed the urge to raise an eyebrow. Mages should know _a lot_ of healing spells, although so far Rosie didn't strike her as the type to blow her own horn.

"But I also know a bit about herbalism and acupuncture. And just a little bit about crystals and energy healing." This caught both of their attentions, and Rosie smiled. Aqua thought it was a bit odd and intriguing how she looked so plain when she was relaxed and nonchalant, but then suddenly so very pretty when she smiled – and she smiled quite often, seemingly. "I gather from Lynn and Terra that you're an energy healer yourself. I can sense energies but I cannot move them by myself, so I use other methods of healing to move blocked energy around the body. I was just talking to Terra, and he mentioned that he was clawed by these creatures, and I just had a chance to examine one of the bodies that was recovered with Lynn, who understands mammalian biology better than I do, and she's convinced the claws and teeth have some sort of contaminant that enters the blood stream on contact."

Lynn looked up at the sound of her name and bowed low and comically, then jumped up with a shriek when Ven tried to trip her over. He ran away with a laugh while she stalked after him, yelling, "I'll bloody well get you one of these days, y'hear me Sparky?! I'll get you!"

Rosie made a show of wincing and rubbing her ear. "Evalyn, that's quite enough."

"Did you see what the douche did to me?!"

"Yes, and we reacted so beautifully, it's no wonder. Do be quiet, you're making my ears bleed."

"Just piss off back to the Guild already. You obviously don't love me,"

Aqua suppressed a chuckle, and after Lynn had stormed off she said, "How do you put up with her?"

"Well, normally I just tune her out," Rosie said thoughtfully, staring at the wall nearby as though she could see through it to the answers she was seeking. "It's too bad the rest of the Uni gang aren't here. They'd have her quiet in a heartbeat. Anyway, Melody," Rosie went on, turning back to her. "I was thinking about what I have been told so far, and I _think_ I might have something that could help you."

Mel took a while to consider this proposal, and Aqua guessed she was testing Rosie's energy. Aqua had become quite adept by now in the same area, being able to sense not just the Heart of a person but the entire energy system around them, as well as the chakras, although she was still getting the hang of detangling the components of the last one by herself. Rosie was fully aware of what they were doing, and waited patiently for the energetic interrogation to finish. Mel decided she could trust her, and accepted the offer, though she asked Aqua quietly if she would come along with them. Of course, she wouldn't say no, and even if Mel didn't want her there it wouldn't stop Aqua from coming too.

Lynn found them on their way to Rosie's ship, and tagged along. Leo found them just as they were entering the secluded square where it was parked alongside Rhiannon's own gummi ship. Rosie jumped in surprise and took a big step back as Leo rushed to Mel's side and showered her with much love and attention with a great throbbing thrum in his chest.

"Ha! You should see your face, Rose!" Lynn giggled.

"Heh," she responded, staring at the great-feathered moulting brute who was fawning over Mel for attention. "…Teeth."

"_No_," Lynn said patronisingly with a grin, clapping her friend on the back as she sauntered over to the ship. "His name's _Leo_."

Rosie caught Aqua's gaze, and she looked away with a nervous smile.

"Forgive me. I'm just not…used to dragons, of any description. And the ones that I _am_ are a bit…scary."

Aqua smiled reassuringly. "Leo's really very friendly." She explained. "He's just been a bit upset recently, with everything that's being happening."

Rosie looked from Leo to Mel's scarred arm, and then to Lynn bobbing impatiently on the doorstep of the ship. "I can imagine." Was all she said.

The ship itself was _much_ smaller than Rhiannon's, and each of it's four sides were done up in elaborate mosaic style designs quite beautifully in bright colours, each depicting one of the base elements with corresponding colours. A sort of tarp had been set up with two poles to create a shaded front porch, and a wind chime was attached to a bracket by the door, made from hollow tubes of wood that hung motionless in the still air.

"Storm's brewing," Rosie commented as she stepped inside first. "The humidity's only going to get worse… And wipe your feet, Lynn."

Lynn rolled her eyes and scraped her boots dramatically so as to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that she had followed orders.

Aqua had heard that the ship had been charmed with a spelling of holding, and she was eager to see the effects, as something of a mage herself. Inside the ship, after a couple of steps up to the threshold, three of the walls were covered in shelves that were piled high with books, boxes and bottles, little ornaments and trinkets, and not a few crystals and pot plants. A homemade trellis on the left wall constructed of old market boxes and wooden planks had trays of herbs growing in small to medium sized pots against one of the walls beside a large wooden frame that held a queen sized bunk bed aloft with room underneath for a small cluttered desk, and clothes hanging from the support slats underneath the elevated bed like a wardrobe. This was cunningly concealed from first glance by a pretty blue sarong that was tied across the front to obscure the clothes. A heavy looking chest of drawers sat beside it with a chaotic array of nail polish bottles, hair bands, clips and slides before a massive mirror festooned with necklaces and bracelets, with small wallet sized photos of various people and places plastered around the edges like a frame. Screwed into the wall was a homemade wire railing that looked like it had been made from an unravelled coat hanger, on which hung many pairs of earrings with a sort of wire woven basket underneath for the little boxes that contained studded earrings and a few more hair clips.

In the centre of the room, which exceeded the outside dimensions of the ship by quite a way, was a shelved column with more bottles of liquids and herbs with a spacious counter that had a few pieces of apparatus spread across its surface, but was for the most part clear and orderly. The remaining wall space was covered in posters, little pieces of art in every shape and size, and many bright colours; a large dream catcher caught Mel's attention, and she was drawn towards it, making Aqua smile. A shelving unit next to a small closed off room tucked into the right corner adjacent to the door (judging by the décor and the large sticker than read: 'WASH YOUR HANDS!' it was probably safe to assume this was a bathroom) came out from the wall, and up its side was a series of pictures made from coloured paper and card glued together in different layers with holes cut strategically to show the colours underneath; they ranged in design and expertise from a beautiful and devilishly intricate tribal turtle in orange, red, purple and blue, to a small red and black crab with childish writing on it saying: '_tu ros lovee luk_'. In between these were a tabby cat, a stylised triceratops, a tree of life, and what looked like a Keyblade with the words '_Magey for the win!_' written by hand in gold along the shaft.

As Aqua looked around the room she noticed to the right towards the back a huge wicker chair in the shape of an oval piled high with cushions and Terra perched amongst them reading a magazine – completely shirtless.

Mel was too absorbed in the dream catcher and the paper pictures to notice, and Lynn was digging through a small fridge tucked into the very corner of the room where a small kitchenette was built into the cramped space, so neither of them noticed at first, but Aqua certainly did. She had to stop and take stock of the situation when she found herself narrowing her eyes at Rosie. Terra wasn't that sort of person, and Rosie didn't _seem_ that sort of person either, but of course she barely knew her. There had to be some logical explanation for why he was in another woman's mobile home without a shirt on.

"Evie, get out of there! That chocolate's for my mum-! Huh?" she turned as Terra stood up, and her Staffordshire bull terrier Aqua couldn't remember the name of waddled over and panting from the heat. She blinked as Terra stared back at her, her hands on her hips and leaning forward slightly, tilting her head up to get a better look at him – her expression puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope." He said dully in response, giving the dog a pat as he meandered past again.

"Then what are you still doing here? Ven told me Leon wanted to see you about something."

"Lynn said you had that medicine?"

"But I gave it to Rhiannon and told her to – never mind." Rosie put a hand to her brow and closed her eyes as she shook her head. "She never listens to me. All right, I'll make you some more then." She went to one of the shelves on the right and then to the counter cut into the pillar in the middle of the room. "I should have guessed Rhia wouldn't get it to you in a hurry."

"That's Rhi for you," Lynn said cheerfully, still rooting around.

"I said leave it alone! And close the door, you're wasting electricity." Rosie chastised her as she nimbly opened several bottles and poured certain amounts of their quantities into another bottle via a funnel. "_Evalyn_."

"Okay, okay! Get off my back!" Lynn snapped, stalking over to the vacated chair and throwing herself down. "Oh God, how I missed this chair…" she groaned in bliss.

"Hey guys," Terra gave Mel and Aqua a crooked smile.

Mel looked up from the dream catcher she was practically drooling over (if Mel ever drooled at all) and smiled back. "I like this place. It feels lovely."

"I got all the feng shui wrong, apparently." Rosie commented, looking into a mortar before reaching for a pestle on the counter. "But there's only so much room we could fit in here."

"I think it's fine just as it is," Mel said simply, and beamed at Rosie's smile.

Aqua tried not to feel too irritated with Terra, and it was pretty easy to do so when she noticed for the first time the angry red claw marks on his chest.

"When did that happen?" she demanded in a low voice while everyone else was preoccupied.

"Same day as the attack." Terra blinked in surprise, running a hand through his hair absently. "I was talking to Lynn and Rosie was around, and I said it was starting to hurt, so she said she'd take a look and she could give me something for it. Those creatures inflict wounds that infect easily, and she wants to treat as many people who were clawed by them as she can."

That would explain why she had singled Mel out. That was a perfectly adequate explanation for Terra being in here partially naked, right?

"There you go," Rosie handed him a glass bottle with a white plastic cap. "I'd say about three doses of ten mils every day for a couple of weeks about fifteen minutes before you eat, and the thing causing the infection will be gone."

"In a puff of purple smoke," Lynn said sarcastically.

"Make yourself useful and get me some more potatoes." Rosie said, leading Mel by the hand to the wicker chair. "Move it. Please." She added more softly.

"Aww, _what_?" Lynn complained loudly, but she moved all the same. "But I'm an invalid too!"

"You said you wanted to help after you were told not to do any manual labour. Go get me some potatoes and get Rhia to help you, and while you're at it kindly remind her it's not just me she's letting down when she fails to pass on news and medicine to patients,"

"She's gonna tear me to pieces. And it's all _your_ fault." Lynn grumbled

"Yes I'm sure it is. Off you go then," Rosie said, looking intently at Mel.

Lynn complained and whined, but she left all the same; the dog scuttled after her, and went to play with Leo for a bit before trotting back inside. Leo didn't quite know what to do about him, and when he was left alone again he plonked himself down outside with his head stuck in the doorway, knowing he'd be in trouble if he disturbed any of the delicate things that bedecked the room. Rosie eyed him nervously, but took her cues from the dog, who seemed completely unfazed by the dragon's presence.

Rosie was quite thorough, and jotted everything down on pieces of paper that went into a folder on one of the shelves. She did many of the same things that Mel did when she did an energy healing; she looked at the tongue and even made a sketch of it on the paper, she felt for the pulses in her wrists and noted them down as well, and she crouched in front of her for a while with her hands on either side of Mel's head. Finally, she took out two 'L' shaped rods made from stainless steel and sat up on her knees before Mel on the floor. As they watched, the rods swung around and crossed over as she lifted them up and down, and side to side around Mel's body. Once she had finished she sat back on her heals and stared into Mel's eyes thoughtfully as she considered.

"You're a difficult one." She said eventually, raising a hand and waving a finger at her. "But I think I might have something. You're not going to like this,"

"Oh dear…" Terra winced, and Aqua looked at him quizzically. "She threw this ointment at me to clear the wounds out – and it _hurt_."

"Yes, well they do say no pain, no gain. It hurts so much, so that you know it's killing off the nastiness that you don't want in there. But I'm going to have to go up a few notches for this." She searched for a bottle and brought it to Mel as Aqua drew closer – partly to watch over Mel and partly because she was curious. "And I have to say, Terra, you took it like a man. I had to douse Evie with some weaker solution once, she literally hit the roof."

Terra sniggered. "I'd like to see that."

"Yes, well… I don't quite fancy my chances, even with that injured arm of hers." Rosie smiled as she fished around for some cotton wool. "She likes to believe she's very tough, but she can be such a wuss sometimes."

Mel didn't look especially bothered about the ointment until Terra crouched down on her other side, then she seemed a bit more apprehensive.

"I won't lie, this _will _hurt," Rosie told her, gently removing the sling and the bandaging. "But only for a minute or so. All right?"

"We should just get it over and down with, then." Mel said simply. Aqua thought she was brave, though Mel herself always maintained she was merely practical when poked on the subject.

"You were given fair warning," Rosie murmured, dabbing at the lowest gash on her arm with the soaked cotton wool.

Mel gasped and whisked her arm out of the woman's grasp, holding it close to her body and gritting her teeth against the pain. After a short while, she gathered herself again, but she couldn't keep still as Rosie applied the ointment to her wounds. Aqua perched on the edge of the chair beside her and put an arm around her for comfort, and she leant into the embrace, trembling. They rolled up the legs of her trousers and did the same to the backs of her legs, which looked to be even worse than her arm. Mel clenched her teeth when the deep scratch over her eye was swabbed, trying to stop herself from jerking out of the way, and Rosie waited patiently for her to gather some semblance of comfort before continuing.

"Nearly over," she said softly, rubbing Mel's neck very gently while she grimaced in pain. "It will stop hurting in a bit, I promise."

Once she was finished she took the bottle and the cotton away and washed her hands in the small sink; Terra grinned at Mel's expression, and she gave him a near withering look while Aqua just stared at him flatly.

"C'mon, take it like a man." He said teasingly.

Mel's next words had Aqua laughing.

"My reproductive organs happen to be on the outside of my body, so _no_ – I am not a man." The teeth gritting was probably a result of the stinging sensations in her arm and legs, because she wasn't prone to such expressions in the face of annoyance, but Aqua liked to think it was partly because Terra was an idiot as well.

"Could you possibly fill this up with water?" Rosie asked, handing him a large plastic canister.

Terra looked bemused as he got up and went to the sink while Rosie carefully started rewrapping the bandages around Mel's arm and redressing her legs. She rolled her eyes and smiled knowingly at her. "Men, ey?"

"I think he was just trying to lighten the mood," Mel said, repentant at her near snappish behaviour towards him.

"Yes, men do seem to think humour solves many problems." Rosie said conversationally, tying the bandage securely and expertly before starting on the sling. "At least in my experience. And their particular brand of humour isn't always the most suited to the occasion…"

"You deal with guys a lot?" Aqua asked nonchalantly, hoping she didn't sound suspicious.

"I have four brothers," Rosie told her with a wistful smile. "Two of whom have the same medical condition I had. There's not a whole lot they can do anymore that scares me."

"Except when they fake a tick bite, then she goes berserk," Lynn commented, sliding through the door and pushing past Leo good-naturedly with a bag of potatoes. "The look on your face…"

"Yes, well, Alan isn't exactly known for his comedic competence, now is he?"

Terra came back with the canister, and Rosie set about preparing something at the counter, with Lynn hanging over her shoulder while Mel and Aqua petted the dog.

"What was his name again?" she asked.

Mel smiled and rubbed his ears. "He's called Baldrick."

Leo croaked, making Rosie jump and Lynn snigger.

"You're jumpier than a paranoid Lyme patient in a field of un-cut grass," she giggled.

"I won't hesitate to throw you out of here," Rosie muttered to herself, pounding the pestle and mortar together.

"Aww, but you _won't_. On account of how much you love me. Right?" Lynn beamed, holding out a sack of potatoes in one hand, supported by her hip.

"Just," Rosie raised her hands and closed her eyes, shaking them in agitation. "Just go over there! And leave me to work. These herbs have to be in the right quantity or else the side effects won't be pleasant for all involved. And don't touch the control panel!"

Aqua looked up and noticed for the first time the small cockpit set into the wall furthest from the door; the window was small and bubble shaped, and the pilot seat looked like a hollowed out silver egg surrounded by buttons and levers that seemed to be begging Lynn to be touched. Although she may have been doing it to wind Rosie up.

"Side effects?" Terra asked, dragging Aqua's attention away. "Like what?"

"Well, it depends on each person and whatever pathogen they are carrying at the time," Rosie was looking intently at her hands working on the counter as she spoke. "This plant is really special, and my Mentor picked it using a certain ritual which enhances the potency of its healing quantities. Since I'm having to guess what exactly is causing the infection, I'm only going to use a small amount. I can see Mel's tried to heal herself, but she's not feeling a hundred per cent in herself, so it hasn't been as successful as it could have been, so this will just give her body and immune system a little boost."

"Yeah, but what _side effects_, exactly?" Terra asked dubious, hefting the bottle she had given him in his hand for closer inspection.

"Oh, don't worry. That's something different you have there. If you overdose on that you'll just get really sleepy. No, this stuff is a little bit odd because magic is used in its preparation, so it _can_ be unpredictable, but if you use it properly there's no danger."

"Back off man," Lynn swung round in the pilot's seat, adjusting a pair of sunglasses on her nose. "She's a _professional_."

"Put those down. They're prescription,"

Aqua took it upon herself to nose her way through some of the Mage's supplies, feeling a little protective towards Mel despite Lynn's laid-back attitude about the woman. Rosie probably cottoned on to what she was up to, but passed no comment, and was quite happy to show Aqua the books she was taking her instructions from. They were hand written, clearly by someone who knew their stuff, and it made her feel a little better. Rosie used a little charm as she pounded the ingredients together, which was more like focused-power-of-intent than a real incantation. It was a language sometimes used in magicks, one that Aqua recognised; it was like a little prayer of health for the one taking the medicine. She boiled some water in a kettle, sternly ignoring Lynn messing around in the cockpit, and poured the hot water into a glass with a small spoonful of the powder she had put together. The last thing she did before bringing everything over to Mel was to tip something into the water canister.

"This stuff will drive it from your system in a week, because its slightly more aggressive than the stuff I gave Terra," she explained. "Just a teaspoon's worth of powder in about a pint of hot water will do. And I suggest taking this after you've drunk it," she held the canister while Mel looked into the steaming glass.

"You sure this will work?" Aqua asked as Mel downed the glass rapidly. "Only, Ansem said she just needed to sleep it off."

"He also said he didn't know what it was that was keeping the wounds from healing properly," Terra said offhandedly, and she felt irritated that he had taken Rosie's side over hers.

Mel finished the last drop of the cup and lunged for the canister. When she finished the water she grimaced and carefully wiped a trickle of escaped water from the corner of her mouth. "That was disgusting." She stated plainly.

"Yes, it is rather foul tasting." Rosie said sympathetically, patting her good arm. "I can give you some more of those herbs for the water. They promote restful sleep, and they take the taste away, too."

"Aqua!"

She looked up sharply as Ven squeezed his way in through the door past Leo. "What is it?"

"Heartless sneaking around the boroughs near Merlin's house!" he said in a rush before piling through the door again.

Aqua put a hand on Mel's shoulder when she tried to get up. "Stay here where it's safe,"

"Evie!" Rosie called as Lynn ploughed towards the door with a vengeance. "What about your arm? You'll make it worse!" When she got no response, she said, "You can't use a bow like that!"

"Forgetting?" Terra asked with a grin as he walked past, holding his own Keyblade.

That irritated Aqua, but it made her feel a bit better when Rosie raised an eyebrow at him, arms crossed passively.

"I was under the impression she had cultivated an allergic aversion to hers, but what does a lowly Mage know?" she spoke as if talking to thin air, expecting no one to listen. "And aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?" Terra blinked in surprise as Aqua tried to push him outside.

"Shirt? The UV index is rather high today – you want to burn to a crisp?"

Terra smirked. "I don't _burn_, I _tan_. Unlike Aqua here, who-"

"Oh shut up and get moving!" she snarled, flushing with embarrassment.

"Sure you've got a cure for sun burn too, though!" he added as he let Aqua force him off the ship.

"The best cure is prevention, you know."

"What is with you?" Terra demanded as Leo sidestepped out of their way, looking a little confused by the sudden change in their demeanours. "Hey! Seriously, what's your problem?"

"Right now – _you_ are my problem!" Aqua spat angrily, heading off into the town.

XOXOX

Ven shaded his eyes and mopped the sweat from his brow. The air was so humid he was about to attempt swimming in it to see if it was easier than walking. Sora, Riku and Kairi had appeared for a visit – just as the Heartless jumped Merlin. Luckily Ashy had been around and had contacted Kyo via their adapted phones, who was standing right next to Ven at the time, so he had been able to get Aqua and the others.

Sadly, by the time they finally arrived the problem had been taken care of, and Sora was running down the street after the one offender that had got away, shouting: "Stupid Heartless! _I know where you live!_"

"Let it go, Sora." Riku sighed heavily.

"No way! They trashed Pooh's story book." He waved his arms in Riku's face and shouted angrily, "_Again!_"

"Huh?" Ven went over to investigate, and Kairi held up the tattered old book, newly ripped with the spine bent and the remaining pages falling out. "Aw man…that sucks," his heart sank.

"Think we can fix it?" Kairi asked, carefully picking her way through the chapters and yelping when a large quantity of pages fell to the ground with a _flump_.

Just then Aqua arrived, and Ven was feeling thoroughly irritated. His arm hurt where one of the little jerks had _bitten_ him, his sleeve was scalded from a badly aimed Fira spell, and she was _late_.

"Gee, and what took _you_ so long?" he demanded as she stalked towards him. "Did you like stop to make out along the way or something? We could've been badly hurt!"

"Oh shut up!" she snapped and pushed past.

"Yikes!" Sora leapt out of the way and stared after her wide-eyed.

"What was _that_ about?"

Terra tottered over, looking bemused, and Ven rounded on him.

"What the hell did you _do_?"

"Nothing! She just got snappy all of a sudden,"

"Yeesh, it's like trying to walk on eggs around here…" Ven muttered, and recoiled from the glower he received. Okay, maybe pissing off Aqua wasn't the brightest idea right now…

"Riku, what have you done to yourself?!" Aqua demanded, sweeping over and grabbing him by the shoulders. The poor boy leapt out of his skin and tried to free himself from her grasp, but she held on like a vice.

"Nothing!" he said, trying to hide the angry red marks under his chin.

Ven noticed something, and gave Terra shrewd look, which was returned with a blank stare.

"What?"

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" he asked slowly.

"Rosie was looking at those wounds I got to make sure they weren't going septic. And besides," he grinned playfully and struck a pose. "It's so hot out, thought I'd go _au naturale_."

Ven raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, taking the dots and connecting them together. "So, you're telling me you were in another woman's house effectively, without a shirt on."

Terra scoffed. "She's a _healer_, Ven. It's what she does. And she was healing Mel too, and I'll bet Aqua's about to march Riku down there to have him seen to as well."

Ven raised the other eyebrow. "Terra, I like you and all, but you can be so dumb sometimes." He unfolded his arms and turned to leave the conversation.

"What are you talking about?" Terra demanded.

"Dude, she's _jealous_?" like, it wasn't at all obvious?

"What?" he laughed, and Ven rolled his eyes. "Aqua's not jealous! She's not like that. Besides, why would I be interested in Rosie?"

"Oh, I dunno!" Ven said dramatically, searching for reasons and ticking them off as he found them. "She's pretty, kinda smart, she has a frickin' _mallet_ for a Mage's staff,"

"She does?"

"Yeah, haven't you seen it? It was hanging _right_ by the door?"

"I was sort of looking at the massive dream catcher, and trying to ignore that stinging sensation as she threw that ointment at me." Terra was getting annoyed now.

Just great, Ven thought to himself. Now they were _both _pissed off with him…

"Well, you never can tell what girls are thinking. Just try not to do anything _especially_ stupid, all right?"

He fought so valiantly, but Terra had a natural talent for headlocks, and he only let go when Aqua stormed over and clouted them both for messing around. It wasn't even Ven's fault – this was so unfair! At least he'd had the decency to turn up when help was actually _needed_…

When Lynn appeared eventually, Aqua rounded on her, but she looked fairly tatty herself and held up her bleeding right hand for inspection.

"Those-!" she used a few colourful words, and Ven put his hands over Sora's ears, "-pathetic Dusks _bit me_!"

Rosie followed at a sedate pace to the scene with Mel, eyeing Leo carefully as she went. He was quite happy to stand at a distance from her, providing Mel didn't wander too far, and the moment Rosie saw Riku she forgot her nervousness and descended upon him.

"Oh dear, not another one!"

"Err…" Riku blinked as she gently lifted his chin so she could see the extent of the damage. "_Who_ are you?"

"Yeah, kids," Lynn gestured at her vaguely, nursing her right hand alongside her already injured left arm. "This be my mate from Uni, Rosie – she's a Mage. Rose, meet Sora, Riku and Kairi,"

"Very nice to meet you," she said hastily, giving them a quick and formal bow before going back to Riku's neck. "This looks quite nasty. How long has it been like this?"

"Err, 'bout a week?" he said uncertainly.

Ven tried not to snicker as Aqua marched him off to get treated, and didn't miss either the rather cool and neutral look she gave Rosie, who was completely focused on her newest patient and so didn't notice.

"Yup." Ven said to Terra, drawing the sound out. "She's jealous all right."

"What makes you so sure?" Terra snapped irritably.

"Ugh!" Ven threw his hands up in defeat and stalked off. "You're both such idiots! I hate you all!"

"That's not very nice." Mel said calmly and evenly.

Ven was about to retort, but he held his tongue. It wasn't her fault, and he didn't like to think how much physical pain she must be in – it wouldn't be fair to have a go at her just because Aqua was freaking out and Terra was being stupid and clueless. He was still fuming when the group broke up; once Sora and Kairi had established Mel was better, they went off after Riku, and Terra went off somewhere grumbling to himself. Leo got up and made to follow him, then turned around and sauntered back to sit down beside Mel, who had perched on the edge of a crate and was starting to wilt.

"Yikes!" Lynn ran a hand through her hair, making it stand up at odd angles in the frazzling weather. "It's like everyone's gone mental today. They're all acting really weird,"

"Maybe it's the heat." Mel suggested heavily, trying to sit up straight and breath deeply, but slumping again tiredly instead.

"More like the humidity." Lynn muttered to herself, sitting down on the ground beside Mel's crate. She brightened when Rosie's dog trotted over and sat down in front of her. "Hey Balders! You still love us though, right? Yeah, course you do! You like that, huh? Yeah, we like a good ol'belly rub, yes we do!" she raised an eyebrow at Ven's expression as she petted the ecstatic dog. "And is this the face of a person who _gives a damn_ what you think? _No_!"

Ven rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, carefully looking through the book Sora had asked him to look after. Of all the things that were wrong in the world today, this one just sucked the most.

"I'm gonna get some ice cream. You guys want some?"

"Ooooh now _that_ sounds nice!" Lynn said with a grin, hugging Baldrick. "What does Balders have to say, huh?"

Mel smiled as Leo started raking his teeth through her hair. "Something chocolate, if that's all right. I'll-"

"On the house," he spoke over her. Mel always offered to reimburse anyone who bought her something, and she was forever being over ruled. Ven's argument of 'but you never expect _us_ to pay you back, so why should we expect you to?!' most often fell on selectively deaf ears.

"Hey sexy!"

Ven groaned and smacked himself in the forehead as Lea sauntered over. "What do you want?"

"To see how my favourite Nobody's doing, of course! So, spill it, girl. Wassup?"

"Huh? Oh, y'know." Lynn made a show of acting like a teenager in those high school movies Sora had goaded Ven into watching – the sort of fake, over the top and enthusiastic smile that hid a scathingly sarcastic motive, complete with that odd side to side dance that only involved the body from the waist up. "The usual! The sky, Aqua's blood pressure, my cholesterol…"

"Whoa, what'd you do to yourself?" Lea demanded, pointing at her blood stained hand.

"Those little-!" again with the colourful language… Even Terra didn't know as many curses and swear words as Lynn, which had initially come as quite a shock to Ven. "-Bastard Dusks _bit_ my hand! My _good _hand!" she was seething over the issue. "It's like the World's out to get me or something!"

"Huh, fancy that," Lea smirked. "Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"_One_ more step dickhead," she snarled, raising her fist and startling Baldrick so he skittered away from her. "Just _one more_ step, and I _swear_ I'll-!"

"Hey Mel, you wanna come with me?" Ven asked loudly.

"Okay," she got stiffly to her feet, and leaned heavily on Leo's neck for support until they left the two arguing behind. "Sorry to slow you down," she murmured as they gained some peace and quiet.

"Don't you be stupid too!" Ven complained wringing his hands. "Of course you're not! Hey, c'mon, you'll get your strength back soon enough," he stopped and frowned when she yawned widely. "Okay?"

"Mhmm." Mel nodded, her eyes glazed. "I just feel really tired all of a sudden."

After much poking and prodding, Mel let Ven and Leo bully her onto the dragon's back to save her from walking. By the time they got the ice creams people were starting to congregate outside HQ, and considering how hard they had all been working that week, Leon gave in to all the whining and pleading and allowed the booze to be broken out.

Lynn was parading around with a new bandage and grinning from ear to ear – Ven wondered whether she may or may not be drunk already at this point.

"Step right up! Gather ye round, O children of the Light! Rosie's doing a seminar on Lyme disease!"

Rosie, who had been hanging her head in shame straightened up and cupped her hands to her mouth, filling her lungs. "Shut up Evalyn no one asked for your opinion!"

"But I'll give it anyway! Cause, y'know – I'm such a caring individual and so on and so forth and – hey, is that a penny?" she swooped down to investigate.

"Did someone give her a large quantity of sugar?" Rosie asked the crowd at large.

"She had a meringue," Yuffie piped up, and Rhiannon and Rosie leaned against each other for support.

"Sweet merciful Bahamut…" Rosie murmured just as Rhiannon muttered, "Oh _Christ_…"

"Hey guys, think I could still do a cartwheel?" Lynn crowed happily.

"No!" Rosie snapped out of her dejection and ran towards her. "No, no, and _no_!"

"Wow, and I thought _my_ friends were crazy!" Ven laughed.

Mel looked up at him with a blank expression that was hiding a smile. She widened her eyes innocently and asked softly, "Am I crazy?"

"Nah, you're the only sane one around here!" Ven pulled her into a one armed hug, watching Lynn run away from Rosie's concern. "I'd better stick you next to Aqua pronto so she doesn't explode."

"Be fair, pet. Rosie's pretty sane too. Though, having said that," Rhiannon eyed her closely as she tried to persuade Lynn to calm down. "Her fashion sense still isn't up to scratch."

"Oi!" Lynn stomped over angrily. "You got something to say about my friends? Feel free to step up _any_ time and say it _to our faces_!"

"All right, Lynn – you need to calm down." Rosie led her away, kicking and screaming. "No more sugar, and you should probably just lay off the alcohol. We don't want a repeat of last time."

"Which last time was that?"

"You. Kenny. David and Josie. Final Year. _Bus shelter_. _Traffic cone_."

"Oh yeah!" Lynn sniggered into her bandaged hand. "Aw man, that was a crazy night."

"Only you lot…" Rosie sighed and shook her head.

XOXOX

Tomasa sat in the shaded lee of a roof, watching the assembled group below. He wasn't sure whether he should be worried by how easily he had persuaded Maleficent to give him this recon mission. It was really very simple; watch the dragon. It also meant he could see his cousins again, even if it was just from a distance. He had been solely focused on the task at hand, but as everyone settled down, he found himself tuning into their conversations.

The Nobody was a real riot, and she oscillated between two of her friends as she told many varied stories while the others around them listened with interest. There was one about Lynn and her classmates doing a re-enactment of some sort of _Harry Potter _spoof called _Potter Puppet Pals _while they waited for three hours for their lecturer to get out of sport related traffic so they could conduct a very important experiment – using pickled animals in jars instead of glove puppets, singing something about a ticking noise…

"Imagine if you actually did," said the Keyblade Master with the strange white and red to pink hair. "Use them as puppets, I mean. _Outside_ the jars."

"You really do disgust me sometimes." The dark blonde Mage who he was sure was called Rosie said in a rather dull tone with a bright smile.

"Didn't you do the same thing though in your lectures?" Lynn asked as everyone laughed.

"Mmm? No, we did a rendition of the _Muppet's Christmas Carol_. And _Muppet Treasure Island_, too. Because we're so grown up and mature in the Psychology Department…" she and Lynn giggled at a shared inside joke that was beyond anyone else's comprehension.

Leo croaked and Tomasa turned his attention away to watch as the dragon heaved itself to its feet and moved out of the way as Sora and Riku went past, scraping with their Keyblade.

"Was too!" Sora shouted.

"Was _not_!" Riku bellowed back.

"_So_ was too and you know it!"

"I'm gonna kill you-!"

Leo flicked his rather diminutive ears back and forth in annoyance and waited for the argument to move on before he settled down again. Mel was by his side – thankfully looking well enough considering the alarming amount of bindings on her right arm. She was surrounded by people who were taking very good care of her; Kairi was painting her nails while Aqua braided her hair this way and that before taking it all down and starting over again. Tomasa listened carefully, but all he could make out was a discussion on magicks with Mel throwing some energetics in there for good measure. It was obvious Leo didn't want to leave her side, and he refused to be baited into a play fight by many different offenders, mostly from the Keyblade camp.

Terra and Ventus were listening to Lynn's stories, and Tomasa noticed Aqua kept shooting them glances. Talk about over protective…although, most of her attention was focused on Mel – that was good. If she needed anything she wouldn't go without for long.

Kyo was bickering with a rather stout looking ginger boy over a pile of gummi blocks while a rather pretty and shapely teenaged girl tried to break it up before getting involved in the argument herself. Tomasa didn't quite understand _why_ exactly Kyo had adopted a pet rabbit he was holding onto like a comfort blanket. He loved his goofy cousin, but he couldn't begin to understand how his mind worked, or why the rabbit hadn't been taken off him yet – it was highly impractical. They trio started when two dogs rushed past, barking and yipping happily before heading towards Rosie and the dog by her side, who stubbornly refused to shift.

"Get out of it, Tiggs!" Lynn gave the grey coloured dog a shove.

"You certainly have a way with animals," Terra said teasingly.

"Yeah, they gravitate towards me. It's kind've annoying, actually."

"Maybe its cause you're fat," said a rather slight woman with jet-black hair and an attitude that grated on Tomasa's nerves.

Rosie poked her in the ribs. "Nope, she's just as skinny as ever," her eyes flashed playfully. "Little Miss Stupidly Fast Metabolism."

"I am what I am." She said with dignity, turning her nose up in the air and groaning when the grey dog started licking her face. "You're getting no food outta me, missy." She said sternly. "Besides, Why I am the fat one? You _seen_ Rosie's tits? Those glorious globs of baby feeding fat?" she said, reaching for them.

"Hey!" Rosie yelped.

"Just look at'em! They're _ginormous_!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rosie snapped, shuffling backwards to get out of the way and bumping Terra's side in the process.

Lynn's eyes flashed, and Tomasa watched with confusion as she chased her apparent friend and tried to molest her.

"Hey, gimme some of those boobs! I'm like a size half-A! You're what, like a double D and three quarters?"

"Get off me!"

Terra dealt Lynn a right hook that sent her sprawling dramatically and helped Rosie sit up. "You should just scream rape." He advised.

"She's just being a pain in the neck," Rosie sighed, getting up. "I'm going to get a drink, can I get anyone anything?"

"Yeah," Lynn grabbed her leg, making her squeak. "I'll take your tits in a liquefied smoothie, and-!"

"All right, I am seriously worried about you now." Rosie said, looking down on her with folded arms and a frown. "Where in the name of the Light has this hyper activity come from bar that meringue you had?"

"Heh," she smiled innocently. "Haven't a clue."

Rhiannon stared at her, hard, but said nothing as Lynn yawned widely and splayed herself out in the sun.

"I'm still waiting for you to collapse. It's working on my nerves something fierce."

Instead of getting angry, Rosie laughed, taking orders for drinks and raiding the cooler that had been left in the shade. "To be honest, I haven't got used to it either. I still plan everything well in advanced with a back out plan in case I get too sick – which of course I _don't_ anymore, so I don't have to worry."

"How does it feel," Lynn asked, taking a proffered can of lemonade and cracking it open. "Genuinely, how does it feel to be normal?"

Rosie contemplated this as she knelt down and sat back on her ankles in their midst, sipping on a coke. "It feels infinitely light. Like I'm not carrying this burden anymore. It's so nice having my mind to myself,"

"Huh?" Ven cocked his head to one side, dazed.

"She's a schizo." Rhiannon said snidely, and cursed when Lynn threw her empty can at her.

"Oh _please_ don't, Lynn." Rosie said with a frown. "That's uncalled for."

"She 'ent a feckin' schizophrenic," Lynn snarled.

"Not any more she's not," Rhiannon smirked.

"Can I speak for myself?" Rosie asked, raising her hand like a student in a classroom.

"Over ruled, Mage." The Keyblade Master told her.

"You were saying, Sister Pestilence?" Lynn said kindly with a playful grin.

"Yes, well, if I could speak for myself – I had possible schizophrenic tendencies, but I was sane enough to know what I felt was irrational."

"I still _really_ don't get it," Ven said to her with a frown, and despite his objective to watch Leo, Tomasa found himself listening too. "What exactly _was_ wrong with you?"

"We told y'already." Lynn sniffed. "She had chronic Lyme."

"Well, actually the technical term for late stage Lyme disease is _Lyme neuroborreliosis_." Rosie explained.

Ven blinked. "I don't like the sound of that word."

Lynn and Rosie laughed and exchanged knowing looks. "Tell away, sister. I'm going to have another beer."

"You should really lay off the…" Rosie said, but she wasn't listening, so she sighed and went on. "Essentially, the Borrelia spirochetes that cause Lyme disease can travel through the body once they get into the blood stream. Don't ask me how, I'm not a biological scientist, and anyway there isn't nearly enough reliable research on the matter. So the bacteria can get into the central nervous system, and across the blood brain barrier where the immune system can't reach them, even if the threat is recognised."

"The little buggers attach themselves to body cells so the innate immune system 'recognise' them as being part of the body and so apparently are supposed to be there." Lynn added as she sat down.

"Quiet you." Rosie said gently. "This all happens if you don't get treated very early on, and a lot of people come down with 'flu like symptoms' for a whole host of reasons, so they don't always realise what it is until possibly too late. They physically damage and impede the brain's ability to function. Neuroborreliosis is the later or _chronic _stage of Lyme disease when it affects the cognitive and emotional aspects of your mind on top of all the physical symptoms."

"What do you mean exactly by cognitive?" Terra asked.

"Well…" Rosie thought about it for a moment before saying, "Imagine your trying to read a book, and you can understand the words on the page, and string them into a sentence, but the meaning of the sentence doesn't sink in. You just can't understand what you're reading."

"Yikes." Ven pulled a face.

"You wouldn't believe the number of people who don't believe that." Lynn snarled to herself.

"Everyone has their off days," Rosie put her hands in the air in defeat and shrugged, head cast downwards. "We all get too distracted to read sometimes, but when you can't even read a book you've read a thousand times before, and can't understand a word of it, it's actually really scary. I started getting all that sort of thing before the proper diagnosis – I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid I was genuinely going insane. And that's the whole thing, how can you explain that to someone, when you're struggling to think of the words to say. I just gave up on lots of arguments in the end because I just couldn't cope with the haze in my mind. Some days I struggled just to think of the words I wanted to say out loud."

"I remember you got so pissed off during exam season," Lynn commented, swigging on her beer bottle. "You were a right mess."

Rosie propped her chin in her hand, elbow on her knee, and gave Lynn and amused look. "I honestly don't know how you put up with me some days."

Lynn beamed. "It was the homemade chocolate fudge."

"Ahh. Suddenly it all makes sense."

"Oh, don't get me wrong – Kenny, Samira and Jamie did it out of the goodness of their hearts – I was only there for the free food and make up sex." There was a long pause and she fluttered and tittered while Rosie leant forward and curled into a ball while Rhiannon scowled and rolled her eyes. "Oops! Freudian slip! What I _meant_ to say was, the make up _hugs_. My daddy didn't love me enough so I have lesbian tendencies."

"Okay, that's it." Rosie sat up suddenly and reached for Lynn's beer. "No more for you. Now you are just being ridiculous."

"Hey! I was drinking that! Bitch!" Lynn didn't fight too hard to get it back from her, which was odd because she had been periodically beating people up most of the time Tomasa had been sat there watching.

"Why don't you just smack her one?" the black haired woman suggested helpfully, and Lynn gave Rosie a long, suffering look.

"I _can't_," she groaned.

"Why not? You beat everyone else up,"

Lynn made a show of a quivering lower lip before exploding angrily, "The whole time I knew her she was just this lost little puppy that needed love and support – I just can't break that stereo type! I spent all those years caring and nurturing her when she was at her lowest!" Rosie hid her face in her hands and behind a curtain of incredibly long hair. "I can't punch something I spent so long looking after! And besides!" she lurched over and flung her arms around Rosie, who yelped and fell over backwards so they both collapsed. "She's the nicest goddamn person I know! She's got the highest empathy of anyone I ever-!"

"Right, you need a time out. Come on, get up Evie." Rosie said in a clipped and business like tone, pushing her away so she could get up herself.

Tomasa wondered if he had heard correctly. The majority of them called her _Lynn_, right? And so had the Mage, but now she had called her Evie. It occurred to him as Rosie and Terra escorted her away that she was a Nobody – evidently, Evie was the person she had been, that had known Rosie.

"But you genuinely are!" she protested. "It weren't fair that you spent the majority of your life really sick! You didn't deserve all that shit!"

"Well, maybe it just made me who I am today. But I do question the wisdom of a drunkard, I really do. Just set her down here,"

They laid her out in a shaded corner and Rosie sat with her and a bottle of water while Terra left them to it.

"She's insane." He said, sitting down in Rosie's vacated space, and petting the dog that had sat quite happily through it all unfazed.

"She's Evie." Rhiannon sighed heavily.

"She's fun." Ven grinned. "Hey Terra, Lynn had this great idea." He smirked as Terra turned to him with a distrustful look. "You wanna try…Keyblade Quidditch?"

Terra blinked and stared at the blonde man for a long moment before saying slowly, "This is either gonna be _really_ good or _really_ bad."

"Don't worry, she was sober when she thought of it."

"Yeah! I'm cone sold stober, honestly!" Lynn shouted, making nearby innocent bystanders wince.

"Enough." Rosie said flatly, putting a hand on her shoulder and pushing down.

"Aww, I'm just pulling your leg! Not literally, of course – I like living. No, I'm really stone cold sober. See?"

"If you can say _Unique New York_ three times really fast without screwing up, I'll believe you."

"Ha! Watch me! Unique New York, Yoo Yeek Noo…" she swore loudly as most people stopped what they were doing to point and laugh. "Noo Neek – feck! How the hell do you do it?"

"I don't."

"What? How the hell do I prove I'm sober?"

"Wow, you're cognitive functions are in perfect working order since you figured it out so fast." Rosie blinked in amazement.

"So I can get up then?" she asked hopefully.

"Let's not be so hasty…"

"Sure, treat me like an invalid." She spat in a huff. Leo turned his head towards her and craned his neck, but she didn't like the attention. "What are _you_ lookin' at, Duster?"

"Think of it as my returning every favour and kindness you ever showed me," Rosie said with a smile, smoothing the hair out of Lynn's face. "And let's try working on our indoor voices, mmm?"

Leo snorted with disdain at the abuse he received and curled himself around the gaggle of girls that surrounded Mel, watching through narrowed eyes.

Tomasa took out a pen from his pocket and spun it through his fingers before jotting down in a small notebook: _dragon appears very protective and territorial to the female keyblade wielders._ What else could he say? Leo hadn't really done much today that was worth recording…all he did was sit there and watch Mel.

"How's it goin', kid?"

Tomasa sighed and looked up to see Pete staring down on him. "What?" he asked flatly.

"Well? How's the recon goin'?" he demanded.

Tomasa sighed again and waved the notebook vaguely, looking down on the congregation below. Rhiannon was swapping Mark of Mastery stories with Terra and Ven; the inhabitants of Radiant Garden were milling around discussing restoration work, news and gossip, and watching Sora and Riku continue to fight only now with their bare hands; the girls and women continued to mess around with Mel's appearance, and the dragon just sat there trying to ignore the noisy dogs.

"Nothing worth mentioning. I came on a lazy day." Apart from the interesting titbits, and being able to see for himself that Kyo and Mel were all right, it was frightfully boring.

"Good, then you can come with me."

"What, now?" he asked, slowly getting to his feet and taking his sweet time to pack up just to irritate Pete. The moment he left the shelter of the shadows and the charm he had cast, he felt the full extent of the humidity.

"Maleficent wants us to stake out that there castle in the Land of Departure."

Tomasa stiffened. He wouldn't do that again.

"Re_lax_, kid." Pete said unconcernedly, turning his back and walking away from the square. "She just wants a bit more information, that's all. _Stealthy_ like, no evidence left behind. Your pipsqueak cousin's precious crystals are safe!"

Tomasa balled his hands into fists and snarled silently, but managed to relax himself and school his expression into careless indifference by the time Pete looked at him again.

"Don't think you're gettin' outta this one! Maleficent's orders, you know."

"I seriously doubt they've left their castle unprotected after what happened last time." Tomasa commented as they walked through the Corridors of Darkness.

"Well, none of them are at home right now! What can they do?"

Tomasa rolled his eyes. Mel was a ditz but she wasn't stupid, and Aqua didn't strike him as stupid enough to leave such a weakness wide open for attack after it had been brought to her attention. The trek was a short one, and they walked through the portal onto the stone courtyard in front of the castle. It was just as hot and muggy here, and there were a few feathers trapped in between the tiles of the floor where the dragon had obviously moulted his thicker winter coat. As Pete strolled forth confidently, Tomasa bent down to pick up a few feathers. They may serve a purpose; if that locating spell he had read about and was diligently practising proved to be of any use.

Something spiked in his field of senses, and Tomasa noticed a very powerful presence nearby that brooked no trespass.

"Err, Pete?"

"What's the hold up? C'mon, we got a job to do!"

"I don't think you want to do that." Tomasa said flatly. "There's something up there. I told you they wouldn't leave the castle unprotected."

"D'ohhh!" Pete snarled and fussed. "What d'_you_ know? Ya got cold feet because of last time or what?"

"No." Tomasa raised his eyebrows. "I just value my life, is all."

"Puh!" Pete waved him away imperiously and stomped on ahead. "Wuss."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he sang under his breath, and smiled to himself. Kyo would've said the exact same thing.

Pete kept on going.

"Seriously, I don't think you should -"

"Shudd_up_!"

Tomasa stood back and folded his arms, his right leg crossed over and balancing on the ball of his foot, eyebrows raised. The source of the energy was watching them both closely, probably biding its time. Whatever it was, it was _strong_.

He was about to turn and leave, or do something else with his time while Pete messed around, when Tomasa heard Pete scream, and he looked up sharply. It looked like another castle – a veritable fortress that sprang up before the front doors of the castle and effectively barred the path onwards. Two long appendages like arms were unfurled and crossed over a chest comprised of battlements that glinted gold in the afternoon sun. When Pete failed to move fast enough, it raised its arms and prepared to strike without mercy.

Tomasa had never seen Pete run so fast in his life, and laughed out loud as the idiot raced down the stairs and into a Dark portal faster than you could say _Magic_. He grinned, feeling light-hearted for the first time in ages, wishing Kyo was here to share the hilarity. A shadow passed over him and blocked out the sun, and when he looked up, Tomasa saw the fortress was descending upon him now in the absence of other targets.

"Uh-oh." He turned tail and unashamedly fled as the ball of energy came rushing to meet him. "I'm going, I'm _going_!"

XOXOX

It really bugged Terra what Ven had said earlier. Aqua was _jealous_? He tried not to snort with laughter. That was just laughable. Sure, Rosie was nice, interesting to talk to, and she sure knew how to handle Lynn, far better than Rhiannon at any rate – but he wasn't interested. What he _was _interested in was whether she could help him and the others, especially Mel. She was obviously a competent Healer, and despite the disparaging remarks she had made about her own abilities that afternoon, very good at magic. He couldn't get his mind around the concept – what would possess him to lust after a woman he had only just met, over Aqua who he loved, and had known nearly his whole life? It was a stupid comment on Ven's part, and when he wasn't engaged in conversation or drinking a beer that was handed to him, Terra spent most of the afternoon obsessing over it.

As the sun began to dip lower in the sky, everyone started to get ready to pack up and leave. Rosie did a quick sweep of her newly acquired patients, and was satisfied that Riku could go home providing he took the medicine she had knocked up for him. Mel suggested washing it down with water or tea afterwards, and he left looking a bit perplexed. Rosie then checked up on Terra and gave him the go ahead as well – Melody was another matter entirely. She was complaining rather passively that they were fussing too much over her, and Rosie said she thought she should stay here a bit longer before going home. Aqua had already promised all the help they could give for now, so they felt no need to push the issue.

"I would like to learn more about these Fiends," Rosie said as she walked away from Lynn, who was lying on a low wall with her back against another, higher one, fast asleep with her arms clumsily crossed and a blank expression on her face devoid of anything. "I've never heard of them before, and they seem pretty dangerous if you don't know the risks and complications involved. Those wounds could go have gone septic if they weren't properly treated. Aerith did a really good job on the field."

"So did you," Terra told her, looking at Lynn's face.

"Well, I only did the touch up." Rosie waved the compliment away. "She made sure you stayed alive after the initial attack. I would really hate to see what happens when they go completely untreated." She followed Terra's gaze and smiled tiredly. "She's worn herself out. Evie can be a real idiot at times, but I can't say I blame her."

Terra chuckled. "She's a real handful. I don't know how you do it."

"Well, I'm a psychologist, and as she kept pointing out, when you spend as much time as I have being unwell and emotionally unstable, you tend to have a greater understanding for how other people feel."

"I'm still not sure I get what you mean," he admitted, folding his arms and adopting a comfortable position.

"I'm not so sure I do either." She shrugged helplessly. "It either exaggerated negative feelings that were already there, or it made a chemical misfire in the brain so the hormones associated with a particular emotion were in the bloodstream whether or not it was an appropriate response to stimuli in the environment – so effectively you couldn't help but feel that emotion until the reaction in the body died down. I'm guessing that is what is happening to Evie right now," she looked rather sadly at her friend. "Poor thing. I don't understand why it had to happen to her. I just have to try and help her as best I can."

"Sounds like you know just what to do, from personal experience." he said encouragingly, and he got a wry smile in response.

"Lyme disease and losing your heart to the Darkness are two rather different scenarios, but I admit some of the symptoms do appear to be rather similar. At least she hasn't got neuralgia. That would break my heart, and she'd probably break the nearest object to hand if she had to deal with physical problems on top of this. Evie's never been overly good at dealing with problems by herself."

"Well, she should know by now we're here for her, right?"

"Oh, no. She's doing what I used to do – push it all away and insist I'm fine so I don't intrude on anyone else's life and cause a nuisance. Only that annoyed Kenneth no end. I realised in the end that just made them worry even more – I don't think she really wants to cause us to worry over her…" Rosie shook her head with a smile. "People are so needlessly complicated, aren't they?" she looked down on the blank and indifferent Nobody with a genuine, warm smile.

Terra jumped as Aqua put her arms around him out of nowhere. "Where'd you spring from?" he asked, startled.

Aqua smiled, looking a bit more relaxed than she had earlier. "Wouldn't you like to know," she said teasingly, giving him a kiss.

She was acting weird still, but Terra wasn't complaining.

"You know, Mel's going to stay with Rinoa and Leon tonight so she's out of Ansem's hair. Ven's staying with her. Do you want to check out the night life or something?"

Terra raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh.

"What?" she demanded, getting annoyed.

"You are so weird sometimes," he laughed, leaning down to kiss her again.

Lynn shouted and yelped, and Rosie jumped out of her skin, all quite suddenly, and they both turned to see what had happened. It looked as though Rhiannon had walked up and hit Lynn while she was asleep.

"Rhia!" Rosie was shocked by her actions.

"What the bloody hell was that for you stupid cow?!" Lynn demanded, picking herself gingerly off the ground with her one good arm and waving Rosie away as she tried to help. "I'm _fine_!" she snapped before turning back to Rhiannon was a snarl. "The hell, Rhi!"

"Get off your lazy arse, there's work to be done!" Rhiannon snapped back.

"Really-" Rosie said with a frown, but Lynn wouldn't be placated.

"Give me a feckin' break! It's almost evening, Leon's told us to pack up for the day; I'm absolutely knackered – why the hell do you feel the need to assault me!?"

"Maybe if you weren't such a lazy shit arse in the first place, Evie-"

Something snapped in Lynn's mind and she threw her hands into the air and growled in frustration. Rosie took a step back out of the way as she summoned her Keyblade and thrust it in front of Rhiannon for inspection.

"Is that what it's about? _Again_?" she demanded angrily.

Terra had thought he'd seen her angry before, but nothing quite like _this_.

"You think I _like_ it this way? Well I've had it with you and your stuck up attitude! I quit – I've had just about as much as I can take!" she threw the blade down where it clanged loudly against the cobblestones, making their ears ring painfully and she set off at a brisk walk that broke into a run when a couple of people turned to watch and called her name uncertainly.

Lynn left a ringing silence behind her, and Rhiannon's stunned expression cooled when Rosie rounded on her, angry herself now.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" she said shortly.

"That's none of your business,"

"She's not just _your_ friend, I hope you realise. Why did you hit her? What in the name of the Light did you think you were going to accomplish?"

Rhiannon opened her mouth, but no words came. She just stared at the woman before her dumbly.

"Look," Rosie was trying to keep a handle on herself, but it was evidently costing her. She held her hands up in a gesture of surrender that turned slightly more aggressive as she continued to speak. "I appreciate you are under a lot of emotional stress, but that is _nothing_ compared to what Evalyn's going through right now, so would you just _back off_ for a moment and leave her be?" she cast around for something, looking a bit lost herself, but doggedly determined as she turned back to Rhiannon. "What gives you the right to treat her that way? What are you trying to prove? How in the world is that going to help?"

Rhiannon looked how Terra held felt every time Master Eraqus had given him a dressing down as a child – it was an unpleasant feeling to know someone you thought of highly disapproved of you and your actions.

"Just _back off_, all right? Give the poor girl some space." Rosie said. She may have gone on to say more, but for now it escaped her, and she patted her leg and called Baldrick to her. "I'm going to look for her. Don't wait up for us." She said over her shoulder with ringing finality.

Terra looked at Aqua, and saw his feelings mirrored in her expression. He knew they had an antagonistic relationship, but he didn't think they would come to blows quite like that. What astounded him even more was the way Rosie stood up to Rhiannon, who he had come to view as an entity that was nigh impossible to reprimand. Rhiannon spoke her mind with little care or thought for what other people thought of her; and Rosie, who had, despite her assuredness on all things Lyme related and her concern for Lynn's well being, shown herself to be more willing to bow out of an argument. Yuffie had bested her several times, and only given up on baiting after Lynn promised to rearrange her teeth, much to Rosie's dismay. And yet she had managed to talk down a Keyblade Master, when her rank in the wider scheme of things was much lower than Rhiannon's.

"You know, she's just a little bit scary." Ven said quietly after Rhiannon had left in a hurry.

"You're telling me." Terra certainly hoped he never provoked such a reaction from Rosie. There was just something about being admonished in front of a crowd without being shouted at or cuffed that made it feel a whole lot more poignant and painful.

Mel staggered over, and they all swooped in at once to steady her. "Is Lynn all right?" she asked quietly, worriment evident in her expression.

"Somehow, I think she will be," Terra said soothingly. He saw Aqua's rather fixed expression at what he was implying, and it made him wonder: was Ven actually right?

XOXOX


	28. Let's Clear The Air

**AN: I apologise most sincerely for the unexpected and massive delay this took… :S I've been rather unwell and its been incredibly hard to write something coherent and worth reading xD anyways, I got there (yey!) though I feel many errors may have slipped through the net, so I apologise in advance. I have lots of ideas for the next instalment that require much teasing out, so there may be more delays while I sort my ideas and brains out…..**

**So yeah, again **HeartofFyrwinde** saved my life and kept me going through all the brain fog so I didn't pack it in and give up :D I raise my glass to you my good Sir!**

_**Let's Clear The Air**_

Tomasa found his usual seat in the library and went to the spread of books he had left out, producing from his bag a small note book which he opened and poured over, oblivious to all else.

Maleficent was well aware that he was planning something outside her knowledge, that was probably aimed at undermining her plans, but she let him be for now. He was a hard worker, and shaping up to be a very competent Mage – he was too valuable to dispense of yet. Besides, when she finally had the Keyblade Dragon in her grasp she needed someone to look after it while she and Pete saw to their other plans. She had hoped Tomasa would bring her more news than he had, but it seemed he had happened to be there on a slow day when not much was happening.

Should she get him to run reconnaissance missions more often? Possibly not, considering how closely it put him to his cousin. No, he could do without that sort of distraction. Instead, she could give him a few more spells to dabble with while Pete did all the hackwork. And perhaps she should observe the beast herself to get a better idea of how to catch him; she wouldn't be made a fool of again by the stupid creature. He had been trained in a manner contrary to that described in the book they had attained – she would not underestimate him again.

As she watched, Tomasa practised a few cloaking spells on various objects around the room, and she gave a few suggestions at various times, but otherwise left him to his own devices. He resented her deeply, she knew that, but he had a real flare and passion for magic once he had discovered it. It would keep him busy for short periods of time, while she deduced what he was up to and made plans to put a halt to them.

Maleficent was angry that their last attempt to infiltrate the Keyblade Castle was thwarted, and even more irate that Pete had left Tomasa behind. She didn't trust him, but he was still for the moment indispensable. So, they had summoned guardians at their beck and call, did they? If only she had something of equal value. Their erstwhile _friend _had had a certain level of control over those demonic creatures, but she knew little else about them. It made Maleficent wonder, whether she could find a replacement, or maybe something even better.

Either way, she wanted that dragon under her command. A few spells of binding and obedience sprang to mind, though she intended to try coercion without his rider around to support him.

Yes, she would have her own way, _one_ way or another on this matter.

XOXOX

By lunchtime the next day, Terra was worried about Lynn. Rosie had been with Mel all morning doing some group dowsing and checking her injuries over. When they all met up outside HQ, they were both looking rather worried.

"I never did find her last night." Rosie told him while Mel went to sit down with Leo, her stamina drained for the moment. "I was under the impression she would have turned up by now, but I've asked around and no one has seen her. I'm a bit hopeless at information dowsing, and I'm okay at searching and location – but I keep getting the _search_ response, and Mel's body isn't in a fit state to reliably dowse right now either. There's too much interference. I'm just more than a little bit worried about Evie by this point. You haven't seen her by any chance, have you?"

"Not since yesterday." Terra wished he could be of more help, but he had spent most of the day fixing a roof with Ven and Cloud, and hadn't had the time to go looking. All he knew was that several people had been asking the same question: where _was_ she?

"If you do see her, let me know. And if she stays still long enough tell her I'm really worried now."

"Will do," he promised seriously.

Rosie smiled and thanked him before hurrying off with Baldrick at her heels. The rest of the day passed in a similar manner, and by the time evening was drawing in Leon was organising search parties; anyone who was feeling up to it after a hard day's work was welcome to join, and a rather large group of volunteers turned out to help.

Terra was wondering whether to join in, and saw Aqua heading off with Ven towards the assembly. Before he made his mind up he decided to bide some more of his time and check on Mel, who was leaning against the wall, perched on a crate with her eyes closed and a completely neutral expression on her face. He poked her gently and she only half opened her eyes.

"Can I help?"

"I'm thinking about joining the search. You okay?"

Mel closed her eyes again. "Yes. I'm a bit too tired to help, I'm afraid…"

"That's okay, you rest. I heard you did a good job ferrying all that bottled water around," he hoped to get a smile at least, and succeeded.

"Rosie's a great help." Mel sat up straighter and smiled as Leo scuttled towards them. "And so were you," she said softly, hugging him once he was close enough.

Leo eagerly licked her cheek and whined happily, tail pounding into the ground before he turned to Terra and made a frantic gesture back the way he had come.

"What is it?"

"Lynnnnnhh." He rumbled in his chest, before motioning again back down the street he had just appeared from.

"You know where she is?" Terra asked quickly, and Leo nodded. He took a moment to think about it, and made a decision. "You stay here. I'll go by myself so she's not swamped. Could you tell Aqua for me?"

"Of course." Mel got up stiffly and stretched her legs before slowly walking over to the group that was starting to split off.

Terra turned to Leo who was waiting expectantly, watching Mel from the corner of his eyes. "Lead the way,"

Leo got up and padded silently along the street he had indicated before, and Terra followed his example and went as quietly as he could. They reached a dead end, and Leo stepped up onto the roof of the building effortlessly, letting Terra scramble up his back like a ladder. They picked their way carefully across the rooftops, and Leo nudged him onto his back before he climbed up a high, broad tower. Terra took the hint when he stopped and motioned noiselessly for him to get off, and carefully pulled himself over the top. It had once been a belfry, although the bell had long since been removed; four stone pillars carved with creeping vines and flowers rose up at the corners and supported a high roof above his head. He fancied he could see a few bats hanging in the rafters, and there was a trapdoor in the very centre of the tiled floor that reminded Terra of the ripples made by rain drops on the water's surface.

Lynn was sat with her knees tucked up to her chest, leaning against one of the pillars and staring into the sun that was just beginning to cast a twilight over the city.

"Just go away." She said flatly, not bothering to look at him, preferring to keep looking to her right into the setting sun.

"No, I won't." Terra said. He marched over to the pillar opposite and sat down determinedly. His defiant gesture elicited no response, and he was aware of Leo letting go of the tower to glide across the town before diving gracefully down into the boroughs where Mel was waiting for him.

"I just want to be left alone – is it too much to ask for?" she said in a monotone.

"You know, everyone's worried about you." Terra told her.

"Bully for them." Still no emotion. "I can't control them or tell them how to feel. Not my fault."

Terra sighed to himself, and wondered how best to handle this situation. He wasn't entirely sure what to say or do. "Look, Rosie asked me to tell you that-" he stopped when she raised a hand to hide her face, and couldn't quite find the right words to say.

After a long while, she relented and lowered her hand; her face was devoid of emotion, but tears streamed down her cheeks. "I just can't do this anymore." She said quietly.

"Do what?"

"Keep lying to myself. And to my friends. I just can't do it anymore," she rubbed the back of her hand against her eyes, but the tears she dispensed with were only replaced with more. "I've been lying all this time, I should probably just go – leave and find somewhere to just end it all. I can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" he didn't like where this conversation was going.

"I'm a fraud. I want to be Evie, so much, but I'm _not_. Evie's the person I _used_ to be, so I made up Lynn to make myself feel like I still had something to hang on to. Rosie's humouring me, but she still thinks of me as Evie, and so does Rhi. But I'm just not. I don't even know who I am anymore. I hate these memories – they keep me behaving like I used to, and they taunt me with all the things I used to feel. I keep saying stupid stuff like, 'I remember I did this and that' – but _I_ didn't. I didn't do _any_ of it." She balled her hand into a fist, and a flash of real anger crossed her face. "I wish I wasn't re-growing a heart. I hate it, feeling so angry all the time. I don't even know why this happened. I don't remember. I just remember, last thing before I woke up in that world where the Nobodies live, I was so angry about something. I think I was trying to hurt someone…I just know that…_Evie _was trying to protect something, and then _I_ woke up. I don't have a right to even exist, so why the hell am I here?" she pounded her fist into the floor beside her, head bowed so he couldn't see her expression, though her trembling shoulders betrayed her.

Terra exhaled deeply, wishing he could say something – _anything_. Eventually, all he said was, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? _Sorry_?" she spat angrily, getting to her feet and pacing around the small space hissing with fury. "I wish I could be sorry! I wish I didn't have moments where I lapsed into nothingness! I wish my stupid heart wasn't always making me angry and hating everything! Rhi and Rosie, and everyone else who knew Evie – they don't deserve this! _I_ don't deserve their pity! Whatever it was, it just happened! And _I'm_ stuck with the fall out!" Lynn snarled and tried to punch the nearest pillar.

Terra sprang up and tried to restrain her, but she fought back despite her left arm. He remembered the feeling of all consuming rage – he didn't want her to lapse into it herself now. "Calm down!"

"Don't you bloody well tell me to calm down!" it was like she was possessed. "Don't you _dare_ tell me to calm down!"

"You're going to hurt yourself!" Terra said desperately, wishing her fury would abate before it became too much for her to handle. The circumstances were vastly different, but the emotion was the same – and it was destructive.

Lynn looked absolutely furious for a moment, and raised a hand as if to strike at him, but she crumpled in on herself suddenly and dissolved into tears. He tried to reach for her to comfort her, but she just grabbed his shoulders and hung her head, sobbing uncontrollably and keeping him firmly at a set distance.

"I want my Heart back!" she cried like a lost child, and he could feel his own wrenching in pain and sympathy. "I want it back! It's mine – it was weak and imperfect and _mine_! I was born with it, I don't want another one! I want my eyes the way they were, I want my hair to grow back – I want _my_ Heart! But it's not even mine, it's Evie's, and I'm not Evie. God! I want to be so much, but it just isn't!"

Terra waited for her emotions to be spent, remembering a time he'd rather forget, when he had been wishing fervently for the same thing. While she struggled to get a grip, he had to put a lid on his own feelings. The World just seemed so unfair…

Eventually she let go on him and rubbed furiously at her eyes and turned aside, scrabbling for some semblance of composure.

"I…" Terra cleared his throat, wondering if what he was about to say would help or make things worse. "I know it's not the same, but I kinda know how you feel. You're…not alone, you know?"

Lynn stared into the darkening eastern sky, and Terra saw for the first time the bruise coloured clouds gathering on the horizon. Her own bruises from that day were fading rapidly already, but they still left a somewhat sickly yellow smudge across her skin.

"I can't keep living this lie," she said, sweeping what little of her hair there was away from her face and into a ponytail at the back of her head that instantly came apart in her hands. "'Ent fair to anyone." She closed her eyes with a grimace and dashed angrily at the new tears that spilled forth. "Least of all to you. God! I'm just screaming like a little brat – you don't need this. I'm complaining, but what happened to you and your friends was _far_ worse. I'm being stupid."

"You're really not." Terra assured her. "Look, I know you want to be stronger to cope with this, but…if I ever learnt anything, it's that it's okay to admit you're not strong enough to deal with something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wayfinder, remembering vividly the day Aqua had given it to him as he ran a finger around the edge of one of the points. "That's why you have friends, so you have someone to lean on."

"You are so not helping," Lynn said through gritted teeth, but she looked far less likely to assault something now.

"Look," Terra tucked the wayfinder carefully back into his pocket, and tried a different tact. "I know you're feeling frustrated, but, you've really gotta be easier on yourself."

"Oh yeah!" Lynn spat angrily, flinging her hands into the air above her head before placing them either side of her skull, as if to protect herself. "I go mental at someone and try to spill blood – I don't even remember the reason why! – and then I end up like this. Yeah, _really_ because that's totally forgivable. I let my Master down, I let my _friends_ down, and I don't even have the right to call them my friends because they're not!"

Terra waited for her to finish ranting before he spoke slowly and clearly. "Well, you were all having a laugh yesterday, weren't you? And you have fun hanging out with them still – isn't that what friends do?"

Lynn had her back to him, and her posture stiffened into one of defiance and stubbornness. But she was listening.

"Okay, so maybe you're not the _exact _same person you were back then, but that doesn't stop you from being their friend. You're still the way they remember you."

"Ha!" Lynn wiped more tears away and gave him a long, sad smile. "Memories. Ingrained, conditioned behaviour. Sometimes, when I punch someone who said something irritating, it's just a reflex reaction. I do all those things, like refusing to use my Keyblade unless in a dire emergency, because that's how Evie acted. I just remember, and act on it. But I don't always _feel_ it. Not sincerely. I just think: 'Ite, that would be bad, and that would make me feel bad if I could, so I better not do it' even though inside, I really do not care at all what happens. Not really." She looked away into the lowering sun. "The only thing keeping me from legging it is knowing that Rhi's gonna chase after me no matter where I go and drag me back."

"And what if it was Rhiannon, if this had happened to her? Wouldn't you do the same for her?"

Lynn smiled, and chuckled, giving herself hiccoughs. "I'd probably smack her one, if it had happened to her." Her expression turned sad again. "I deserve it…"

"No you don't. She shouldn't have hit you yesterday – what had you done to provoke her?"

Lynn shrugged and tried to stretch her arms behind her head, but was defeated by the sling. She raised her right hand to make a half formed gesture before shaking her head and waving it away, turning aside as she did so. "Probably just exist. I just…I wish she could understand…" she looked pained, and refused to meet his eyes. "When I _do_ feel something, all I can feel is anger and rage most of the time – it's horrible. Other things are coming back, but even when I do feel genuinely happy, I just think, 'but it's not _my_ Heart', and that makes me angry all over again. I'm just getting on everyone's nerves, being a real nuisance. I don't know why they haven't tried to bump me off yet."

Terra laughed. "Maybe because you wind up Yuffie and it's fun to watch?"

"Hey!" Lynn rounded on him, turning to face him full on. "She was asking for it!"

There was a scuffling at the edge of the tower, and they both turned to look for the source. Rosie carefully appeared, clinging to the wall quite well under her own steam (and magic in all likelihood) but required a little help getting over the edge to join them. Lynn stared at her in horror and started on her with, "What the hell did you think-?!" before she sighed and rubbed her temple. "Of course…"

"Nice little spell," Rosie said with a smile. "Let's you climb like a gecko. It's actually rather fun provided you don't look down." She gave Lynn a fixed look. "Now then," was all she said, and Lynn dissolved into angry tears again, turning away from them both. "Oh, sweetheart!" Rosie reached for her, and didn't let go when Lynn tried to push her away. "Come on, get it all out. You've been bottling it up for far too long."

"I h-h-hate you! S-sss-so mu-uch!" Lynn howled.

"I used to feel that way." Rosie said calmly, stroking her hair while Lynn wailed into her shoulder. "Remember when I got so worked up I just couldn't stop crying? I got so angry with myself, because I was unable to keep control of my own body's response. Dropping a spoon is hardly cause to cry like it's the end of the world, but that's what Lyme did to me. But look! You've got far more reason to cry then I ever did over those silly little things. I know you're frustrated, and you've been trying to deal with it as best you can – and Rhia hasn't really been helping at times if I'm honest, which can't be easy on you. But we can deal with that, all right? She doesn't understand the way Kenny or Samira would. I can't relate completely to this, but I know what it feels like to be completely out of control of your emotions and how your body reacts to them. You've seen me at my very worst, when I was incapable of anything and a complete nuisance to you, and I kept asking you to leave me alone. And you know what? You stuck by me no matter what rubbish you had to put up with, because you're a _good friend_, and you still are because you're worried about our feelings even though you've got your own problems to deal with. There's nothing you could say that would ever change my mind, so you had better just except that I'll always be trailing after you with a box of Kleenex."

Lynn pulled back and looked her full in the face, quivering with some emotion Terra couldn't name.

"Why is it…you always say the right things to me, and I hate you all the more for it?"

Rosie smiled warmly, gripping her firmly by the shoulders to keep her anchored in place. "We don't like hearing the truth when it's contrary to our own version of reality. Don't pretend you don't know that we're here for you, sweetheart. Because _we are_. And if you keep on behaving like that I shall slap you on Kenny's behalf."

Lynn blurted out a laugh, slapped a hand over her mouth, and then giggled. She suddenly looked a lot lighter than Terra had ever seen her before.

"I'm being really stupid, aren't I?" she asked with a watery grin.

"Only because you won't accept our help. You go on about how great I am for coping through my Lyme disease, but honestly I would never have got very far without my friends carrying me onward, including you."

Lynn's expression wavered, and Terra guessed why; he put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she rubbed her latest instalment of tears away.

"Look, I know you've been calling yourself Lynn, and your appearance _is_ a bit different, and you are technically a different 'being' to what you were before, but whoever you are and whoever you claim to be these days, you'll always be one of my best friends. Nothing could ever change that. I know you feel differently about it, but you _are_ still the same person, to me."

Lynn gritted her teeth and gave Rosie a pained look. "Just…stop…_talking_, already!"

Rosie took a step back, hands raised in surrender. "All right. Let's talk about something else for now, get our minds off it. Look, I said a storm was brewing," she turned to look at the bruised sky like a weather reporter, and Lynn drooped, shaking her head with a patronising smile. "Though it might not actually break for a while yet. Funny, clouds like that usually herald an imminent storm. Hmm…maybe midday tomorrow-ish? Morning, if we're lucky."

Terra raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure of that?"

"Trust her," Lynn jabbed a thumb in Rosie's direction, not looking at either of them. "She studied weather lore with the best of 'em."

"I have a friend in another world where their Mages are called _Bards_. I learnt weather watching from a good friend of my Mentor in one of their Schools. I'm not usually wrong. Although, I have been known to underestimate the weather. When I'm wrong it's spectacularly so." She turned to Lynn with a playful smile that transformed her features. "Remember? Kenny and Lars asked if it was worth postponing the barbeque for the Jubilee, and I said only for a day." Lynn tried and failed not to laugh.

"Yeah, and it was like, what – a _month_ before it stopped raining and hailing?"

"Yes, well…that wasn't one of my more proud moments as a Mage."

"You idiot…"

"In fairness at the time, I was really sick, which threw my reckoning off by a wide margin, so I might say in my defence."

"Any excuse…"

"Look who's talking."

"Hey!" Lynn snapped standing up straight and striding over to her shorter friend. "I have a legitimate excuse too!"

"Oh, so now we _do_ admit out loud to Rosie that we have a problem?"

Lynn spluttered and glowered at her. "Yeah! Fine! Whatever, I have a problem I've been pushing away and hiding from you all. Y'happy now?!"

"Very." Rosie beamed before turning to Terra. "Could you possibly find Leon and tell him to call off the search parties? We'll follow in a little while. Let Rhiannon know we found her and she needs a bit more time to calm down." Lynn's face became unreadable at the mention of Rhiannon's name, and she turned her back. In a more quiet voice, Rosie said to Terra, "I think we need a bit more time, for both sides to recover."

"Sure thing,"

"Thank you so much for looking after her." She said fervently before turning her attention back to Lynn.

XOXOX

As Rosie had apparently predicted, it stormed most of the night and well into the morning; loud crashes of thunder and flashes of harsh lightning illuminated the town with fantastic patterns lacing through the clouds above until lunchtime. When the rain had finally stopped they all stepped outside to find a gloriously blue sky speeding towards them as the last of the storm clouds were swept away by a brisk, cooling breeze. With the lift in the weather and the atmosphere came a lift in spirits – though Rhiannon and Lynn weren't quite speaking to each other. Leo seemed far calmer than before and Mel was becoming _almost_ but not _quite_ a nuisance.

Rhiannon kept shooting her friend surreptitious looks, and Lynn herself stared morosely at her feet, or at the newly cleared sky and responded to Rosie's conversation with as few syllables as she could get away with. She was more anti social than ever, but Rosie didn't seem to mind, and she carried on as if nothing were a miss, though Aqua couldn't fail to note the rather tender manner in which Rosie trod around the Nobody, as well as the caring looks she dealt to both Lynn and Rhiannon whenever she glanced in their directions outside the normal course of conversation.

Mel was…feeling much better than before, but her body hadn't quite caught up with her renewed mindset. Aqua wasn't the only one dashing after her every time she over exerted herself, and she was getting quite annoyed each and every time she saw Rosie flit over to help. After all, she had given Mel medicine and doctored her wounds – she had every right as a Healer to fret over her patients so.

It just irked Aqua, especially when Terra started to follow the Mage around.

Ven caught her watching Rosie with narrowed eyes as Mel tripped over a broom she had been wielding as a weapon in place of her Keyblades; he held her up under her arms as she struggled to find her balance and happened to glance in Aqua's direction. His eyes flickered from Aqua to Rosie, who was listening intently to something Terra was saying before she started laughing; Lynn raised her head in a listless gesture, her expression rather vacant, but she spoke in low tones that didn't carry far but had both Terra and Rosie in stitches. She raised an eyebrow in a disdainful manner and rolled her eyes, leaning back against the brick wall she was perched upon and folded her arms before lifting her chin and closing her eyes.

On the pretext walking by to check on Mel, Aqua walked past; shoulders stiff, and heard the tail end of the conversation.

"One can only imagine…" Rosie said, trying to stay calm and straight faced.

"Absolute _bell end_…" Lynn muttered.

"Oh well," Terra said bracingly with a grin.

"Yes, well…" Rosie went on thoughtfully as Rhiannon walked past with Lea, sniffing with her own disdain. "Rhia?" she deferred to the older woman for an opinion.

"Egits, the lot of them." Was all she said as Lea detached himself to join their threesome.

"How's it going, Beautiful?" he said teasingly as he plonked himself down beside Lynn, who turned aside with a sigh.

"Don't you ever give up?" her tone bespoke of defeat, her face bespoke blankness.

Terra raised his hands in surrender as Aqua reached Mel and stroked her hair reassuringly as the younger woman sagged in exasperation with herself and her inability to perform her katas.

"I think I'll go now." Terra strode away with a grin while Lea slung an arm around Lynn's shoulders that she didn't attempt to shrug off straight away, as she looked completely exhausted.

"Hey, Miss Third Wheel." Lea began to Rosie, but she raised her hands in surrender as well.

"I think now's the time to bow out." She said softly before turning on her heel and following Terra at a tangent that led her past Cloud to a crate full of bottled water where she chose a container to drink from.

Lynn stood up without a word, shrugging Lea's arm off and hurried after Rosie as if her closeness gave some measure of comfort.

"Hey!" Lea complained playfully, but pushed it no further than, "Don't you love me anymore?" when Lynn dodged aside and tried to flee from the scene.

"It's following me." She said in a monotone to Rosie as she was hooked back from retreating completely by a well-placed arm.

"Fear not." Rosie murmured gently.

"Could do worse," Terra said offhandedly, scratching Leo under his chin the way he liked, tail thumping loudly against the ground, making it vibrate beneath their feet.

It gave Aqua some satisfaction to see Rosie was still nervous around the dragon; Lynn and Rhiannon were fine with him, with Lynn often warm and reciprocating, while Rhiannon chose to treat him with a healthy if some what dry humoured respect. Rosie liked to duck out of the way and viewed Leo with something close to awe and fear. Right now, she was clutching her bottle and keeping a close eye on him while Lynn walked past listlessly to collapse in a messy pile close by. Rosie followed, never turning her back on Leo, and settled in beside her friend where she leaned close as if for her own comfort.

"You shouldn't over do it," Ven lectured Mel sternly, and Aqua couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Oh," Terra drawled loudly with a roll of his eyes, making Aqua giggle and Leo give him a quizzical look. "And where have I heard _that_ before?"

When Mel looked at him in puzzlement, Aqua enlightened her. "Ven broke his leg when he was younger, and we went searching for him when he didn't come back from his walk. Master Eraqus got very annoyed when he kept trying to train before his leg healed properly." Aqua beamed at Ven's scowl, and they all had a good laugh out of it. Her happy bubble didn't last for long, though.

Leo got bored and went to pester Mel for attention, which she lavished upon him happily, leaving Terra free. He chose to go talk to Rosie while Ven tried and failed to pick a fight with Aqua. Mel bit her lip as he stormed away, annoyed at his humiliation and Aqua's flickering mood; Mel's eyes betrayed her concern, as well as her lingering physical pain that tweaked at her arm and legs periodically. Rosie had warned about that, as well as the itching that was starting to develop where the stitches had held her skin together when the wounds were still raw. Her body was beginning to heal much faster than any of them had predicted, and Rosie had decided with Ansem that with the introduction of the magically prepared medicine, her body's immune system had managed to mount the appropriate responses to heal itself. After spending a whole evening, night and most of that morning while the storm raged in a comatose state, Mel was much recovered from her ordeal, though still not quite one hundred per cent.

Aqua tried not to feel annoyed that Terra had gone off again to talk to Rosie, but she did all the same. She felt a little ashamed that she was letting the situation get to her like this – the Mage hadn't made any overt moves towards Terra, at least that Aqua had seen. Rosie hadn't really done anything, except to help and aid in the healing of Aqua's friends. It was Terra who was seeking her out and talking to her, not Rosie instigating the contact. That made it…she didn't know if it was better or worse. Rosie hadn't encouraged his behaviour, but then it was Terra initiating it in the first place. Aqua had always felt a measure of pride in that, she wasn't catty – when she found herself comparing her and Rosie in terms of attractiveness she was affronted with her sudden narcissistic turn in thoughts. Still…really, it was just the woman's smile that brought the whole package of prettiness together, more than anything else; when she was relaxed and neutral she wasn't all that much to look at.

"So," Terra began, folding his arms and settling into a comfortable stance before looking down on the two women on the ground with their backs against the wall. "What's your Guild like? I've always wondered."

Rosie looked up at him at he spoke, then her gaze drifted sideways while she thought about it. Lynn smirked faintly and exhaled in a huff before shifting her position. They caught each other's eye and looked away with smiles.

"Rather dull, if I'm honest." Rosie said eventually. "But, I have to say – the Ladonier Guild have _the best_ library."

Lynn snorted loudly and looked up into the sky above, her expression nearly blank but still faintly wistful. "You _wish_."

"Well, for a Mage's Guild, we have the best library," Rosie explained, patting Lynn's knee and smiling when her friend raised a hand to place over her own and held it there. "But I'm sure Keyblade Masters have better resources of the literary variety to draw upon than we do."

"Thank _you_." Lynn said, looking off to her left with a small smile as Rhiannon came over and sank gracefully to sit cross-legged beside them.

"I know I loved sticking my nose in Master Sol's books. He had the _best _collection of poetry I've ever seen,"

"And Kennt' has first dibs on it." Rhiannon said dully with a rather comically dreary expression.

"But he's got the most expressive voice," Rosie went on fervently, turning to the woman as she addressed her. "It's like the poem just come to life when he's reading."

"He's an actor, big whoop." Lynn muttered to herself, still holding Rosie's hand tightly.

"But what's it like, living in a Guild?" Terra pressed.

Rosie shrugged, bemused by the question. "I suppose, it's not that different to being an apprentice of the Keyblade, only there are more of us in one place. It used to be strictly regulated, but they have relaxed the rules in recent generations so we get to see our families more often. That's why I went home, and also so I could go to university. And I met this thing," she beamed at Lynn's dull expression, as if she had no more energy to expend on smiling. "I guess being part of a Guild isn't so bad. It's like being a Uni student, really – there's a sort of friendly enmity that the more immature and foolish students like to take a step or two too far at times."

"Oh?" Terra raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Oh, the usual," Rosie said vaguely her smile a little crooked; it lifted up at one corner, and she raised the corresponding eyebrow with it, giving an over all look of mild and barely tolerated amusement. "Your Mentor sucks compared to mine, our Guild's better than yours; '_Vive Le Magie_' – we're so much better than the Keyblade." She rolled her eyes and shook her head while Lynn's shoulder shook with suppressed humour that didn't quite leak into her eyes as she looked to her left at a break in the cityscape to the clear horizon. "Of course, the older Students don't feel the need to be quite so petty about such things."

"Jonas does." Lynn said dimly.

"Jonas is, as your good self and Kenny so admirably put it, an arse." Rosie said without a hint of irony.

Terra snorted into his hand, and Aqua tried to hide the smile on her lips. It was like listening to Mel swear; it was a very rare occurrence, and somehow their particular accents seemed to make the impact more poignant, although the fact that they refrained from such language in the normal course of things when those around them were more relaxed about it could also be a contributing factor.

"May I join in?" Lea asked as he slunk his way towards the group and leaned heavily on Terra's shoulder with a usual smirk.

"I dare say you can." Rhiannon shrugged, looking at the other two women, who shrugged in response as well.

"Hey!" Ven yelped, and Aqua turned just in time to see Mel falling over backwards and lunge for her. Together, with Aqua holding her shoulder from behind and Ven her wrists from the front, they both righted her and began admonishing Mel for what felt like the hundredth time. Aqua felt a twinge of guilt when she overheard Mel talking to Ven a little while later after she had been discouraged from playing tag with Leo. Mel folded her arms and set her shoulders defiantly, though her expression was soft and yielding in contrast.

"Why?" was all Ven could ask, and Mel's expression became suffering and almost desperate.

"I'm so _bored_." She breathed. "I'm well enough to be up, and not well enough to do anything. It's doing my head in."

"Rose knows all about that." Lynn said listlessly as she ploughed past, patting Leo's snout. He responded eagerly and bounced to his feet to follow her after giving Mel a quick searching look and licking her cheek in encouragement. "Don't you, Rosé?"

"Mmm." Was all the woman would say, with a worn looking expression. When Terra folded her arms and cocked his head to one side questioningly she elaborated. "Twas often the case for me that I had enough energy to get up and get myself something to eat or a glass of water, but I lacked the cognitive and energetic capacity to actually _do_ anything of a constructive nature. So I was often in a similar position. But!" she beamed and clapped her hands, her whole being lighting up as she walked towards Mel. "This case is only temporary – I am amazed at how fast you are recovering! Let's see," she took Mel's left wrist and felt for her pulses for a moment before checking the right. "Mmm, yes. I have another tincture that might help…"

Leo trundled back towards them and Rosie jumped, taking a sweeping step back and bumping into Cloud as she went.

"Sorry,"

"S'okay. He's really not all that bad, you know." He informed her.

Rosie smiled up at him nervously. "I've not had a good experience with dragons in the past, so it's really a conditioning problem…"

"He's been a bit wound up recently," Mel explained, rubbing Leo's jaw as he sat down beside her, humming happily. "I think Leo would like to get to know you a bit better, if you'd like…" she left the sentence hanging, and Rosie gulped before taking a hesitant step forward.

Terra smirked and walked up behind her before taking her shoulders and giving her a shove forward. Aqua frowned – whatever she felt about Rosie, it wasn't right for him to manhandle her into a situation she wasn't comfortable with. Rosie squeaked and tried to bolt, but Rhiannon put a hand on her arm and steered her with Terra towards Leo.

Taking his cues from Mel and Aqua, Leo sat very still and watched silently as the Mage was brought before him for inspection. Aqua felt a twinge of sympathy for the woman; she looked terrified. Mel took her hand and gently led her closer to place it on Leo's brow between his wide spaced, forward facing eyes. After a long moment, Mel let go of Rosie's hand, and the woman let it linger there for a few moments more before she tried stroking his feathered hide. She squeaked again when he moved quickly to lick her hand in an affectionate gesture, and backtracked, stumbling into Terra before slipping carefully behind his shoulder and peering tentatively at the dragon, who looked put out by her retreat.

Rosie caught Aqua looking at her, and smiled nervously. "He…takes a little getting used to. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a scaredy cat…"

Aqua tried to be as gentle and accommodating as possible while she clung to Terra's side for protection. "We've known him since he was an egg, so he doesn't really intimidate us."

"Speak for yourself," Lea muttered to himself darkly, and Aqua thought about the creature he had mauled with an inward shiver.

"'Ent _that_ scary. Are you, Duster?" Lynn said, giving him a friendly smack on the rump as you would a horse.

Leo puffed up his chest importantly, and then yelped as Baldrick trotted past with an inquisitive sniff at the dragon's hindquarters. Leo baulked and backtracked comically in much the same way as Rosie had retreated from him, almost treading on Yuffie as she bustled past with a stack of books in her arms.

"Yikes!"

"It's all right Leo, it's only Baldrick." Mel smiled, amusement twinkling in her eyes as people started to laugh. "He's only a fraction of your size, and he's very good-natured, too."

"Oh Balders," Rosie laughed with relief, dropping to the ground and ruffing her faithful dog's fur up around his neck. "What a pair we are! I'm scared of a dragon, and the dragon's scared of _you_! I love you so much, Balders," she cooed as he licked her face eagerly and sat down between her legs where she lavished him with attention. "Yes I do. I can't be scared of Leo if you're not, can I now?"

Terra bent down to pet the dog, but he butted the man's hand away, which surprised them all.

"Guess he doesn't like me." Terra looked put out.

"Silly dog," Rosie took him by his neck and continued to rumple his fur. "Terra's a friend! We don't head butt friends, do we? No, no, _no_."

"You talk to him like he's a baby." Rhiannon's expression was a mixture between exasperation and puzzlement. She had always been firm with Tiggy, though the dog had become decidedly more silly ever since Ashy had hijacked her.

"Because he's my baby." Rosie cooed, hugging her canine companion, deaf to all and any sense on the issue. Aqua summoned her patience while Terra tried and failed to get the dog to cooperate.

Why did that aggravate her so…? She should be more mature than this! And yet…

When Rosie finally stood up, Leo on the opposite side of the square and playing with Kyo and his friends, she dusted herself down and gave Mel a wry smile. "You seem somewhat fearless."

"Just…acclimatised." Mel said stoically, before a laughter bubbled up her throat. "I remember," she said with a bight smile. "When Leo's egg started hatching." She turned to look at Ven and pointed to him with a giggle. "Your face!"

"My face?" Ven raged at her playfully, brandishing a hand at her. "_Your_ face, thank you very much!"

"Remember?" Terra laughed and turned to Aqua, making her smile before he turned to Rosie again, and her heart sank again. "They were freaking out! We all thought it was a crystal or stone of some kind – not an _egg_."

"I can imagine." Rosie stifled a laugh and shot Leo a sideways glance before looking again at Mel. "Though, I have to admit; you're not quite what I would have expected the Keeper to look like, but you seem to have the right balance and temperament for the job."

Her words were met with stunned silence all around. "The _what_?" Ven asked eventually when no one else piped up.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Rosie's smile faltered, and she frowned to herself before turning to look from Ven to Aqua. "Did I get it wrong?" when no one ventured an answer, she said, "You know, the 'Keeper of the Dragon's Blade and Heart' or however it went – I thought the Keyblade Master aligned with the Dragon was called the Keeper."

Terra lunged and Rosie squealed in surprise, but she couldn't twist out of his grip in time. "Where did you hear that?" he demanded, and Aqua leapt forward to rescue her. "Tell me!" he gave her a shake when Rosie didn't respond.

"I don't know!" she squeaked, wide eyed at his sudden change in demeanour.

"Terra!" Aqua said reproachfully, laying a steadying hand on his arm and plucking at his fingers to dislodge his hold on her.

"It was a poem I read, _years_ ago – in the Guild library somewhere. I have been looking for it on and off, but I never found it again. It was just a poem I read about the Keyblade,"

"Hey." Lynn clapped a hand on Terra's other arm, and both he and Aqua jumped at the look on her face. "Step off. _Now_." Terra let go and Lynn flung her uninjured arm around Rosie's shoulders, pulling her in close and glowering at Terra angrily.

"It's okay," Rosie insisted, giving her friend a squeeze. "I think I just caught him off guard." Then she looked from one anxious face to another, apologetic. "I wish I could tell you more, but it was just a poem I read in passing because it was in the wrong section of the library. I've been looking for it for years."

"Hey," Rhiannon frowned, her fist propped underneath her chin as she gazed into the distance without seeing. "Weren't that…? That poem you said was a Keyblade song or sometin'? That you were so surprised Master Sol and everyone else didn't know about?"

"Hmm?" Rosie looked confused until Lynn spoke, still glowering at Terra.

"The one about the 'Heart of All'? The translation,"

"Oh!" comprehension dawned on her face. "_Dearly Beloved_!" she exclaimed.

Aqua thought for a moment before asking hesitantly, "What's that?"

"It was a scroll I read the same time as I read the one about the Keeper." Rosie explained, frowning as she struggled to collect her memories. "It was at a time I was having a lot of neurological problems, so I don't know how reliable my memory of the incident is, but I remember the Keeper, because at the bottom was a haiku…something about sun and rain, and night and day. _Dearly Beloved_ was on another scroll I took out of a book – it should not have been there at all, so I put it back in the returned wagon to be filed away properly. I read it before I did though, and I think it was a translation from another language because it made little sense in some places-"

"'Ent that just the brain fog?" Lynn asked, still giving Terra the evil eye.

Rosie sighed impatiently and made a gesture with her hands, flicking her right off to one side while the other hand sank downward; Mel's eyes lit up in recognition but she said nothing. "I can't blame _everything _on Lyme disease. And stop trying to liquefy Terra's kidneys. There's enough hostility in this world already. Anyway, the poem I read was written in free verse, and from the vocabulary and the way it was used, it seemed like it was a translation because it didn't fit together completely, but there was no indication I could see of an original language or an author. And, as Lynn pointed out, I wasn't well at the time, so I didn't chase it up." Rosie sighed regretfully. "If only I had, I might have some real answers to give you!"

"But," Mel murmured softly, her eyes very wide indeed as she listened with rapt attention. "What did it say about the Keeper?"

Rosie struggled for a moment; she raised her head and face skywards before lowering it again and rubbing her knuckles into her forehead and gritting her teeth for a moment. "Argh!" she hissed. "Something along the lines of… 'Keeper of the Dragon's Blade and Heart is…' oh, I wish I knew! It was so long ago…and I wasn't well at the time…I just remember, 'Dragon' and 'Keyblade' were side by side in the poem. I just assumed at the time it was Keyblade lore that everyone knew, so I never questioned anyone about it. I was surprised when you four," she nodded to and pointed at Lynn and Rhiannon, "didn't know about _Dearly Beloved_. It kept talking about Hearts and balance between Light and Dark – it sounded like something a Keyblade Master would know and quote,"

"But did it ever state specifically the _Keyblade_ in the poem?" Aqua pressed, her mind racing.

Rosie frowned deeply. "I…don't _think_ so. At least, I don't _remember_ specifically. But, I was having cognitive problems at the time, and my memory kept slipping in and out, so it's entirely possible I read something about the Keyblade specifically, and failed to encode it into my memory." Her frustration showed vehemently, and Aqua wondered at the root cause of it.

Lynn supplied a clue when she snorted angrily and her eyes flashed. "Feckin' spirochetes."

"Bain of my life." Rosie ran her hand through her hair before letting her arms fall, and her hair cascade in a tangled chestnut mess around her face. "I'm so sorry, I feel like I've just made everything more complicated." Her expression was so sincere; it made Aqua feel even more ashamed for her hostile feelings towards the woman. She desperately wanted to be of help to them, and had only handed them more questions with the answers she had given.

"Can't be any more complicating than what I've brought to the table." Mel sighed, turning to Leo who had scuttled over to see what was going on. He sat down behind Aqua and Mel, and leaned his head against Mel's body. "We're a puzzle, us two. Aren't we?" she murmured to him as he closed his eyes with a grating sound resonating from his throat.

This new revelation gave Aqua much to think about, and a pleasant distraction from her earlier grievances. They spilt into groups to discuss what they had just heard; Rhiannon started interrogating Rosie, which flared Lynn's already frayed temper instantly. Rosie had the sense to head the argument off early on, and sat down with the two woman to field as many memory jogging techniques as possible to dislodge any further nuggets of information in a methodical manner – judging by the way Lynn's steady stream of apathetic curses floated through the air, they were failing miserably. Mel and Ven launched straight into a debate about what Rosie had said; Ven openly questioned the efficacy of her words, while Mel explored all manner of meanings behind what precious little of these poems she had heard. Aqua listened, rubbing Leo's neck and trying to puzzle it out in her own mind.

The specific words had a ring to them that bespoke the Keyblade: Light, Dark, Hearts…all were things a Keyblade Master dealt with in their training. If it _was_ linked to the Keyblade, that at least made sense. And then there was the very nebulous nature of the Dragon and the aforementioned 'Blade'…

Aqua noted dimly when Rosie and Rhiannon both stood up, and Lea sat down in the vacated space to talk to Lynn. Rhiannon steamed off to find Merlin while Rosie wandered towards the crate of bottled water, deep in thought. She bumped into Terra and again tried to apologise for her uselessness, but he laughed it off with good humour and casually slung an arm around her shoulders before ruffling her hair. Rosie bore the treatment with grace, but she happened to catch Aqua's eye as she spun on her back leg to keep her balance, and she hastily ducked out of the way and hurried off after Rhiannon.

Lynn had been watching and sprang to her feet as she left. "Where you goin'?"

"I'll send my Mentor a letter and ask him to look through all the old scrolls. They should still be in the library somewhere,"

"I'm comin'."

"What, you ditching me?" Lea demanded, throwing his hands into the air.

"Sorry, I have prior loyalties." Lynn shrugged before she hurried off with Baldrick at her heels, and Lea not far behind.

Terra gave Aqua a funny look, but she turned aside, upset with herself. _Why _was she acting like a clingy and possessive teenager?

"Aqua?" Ven asked, poking her shoulder gently and making her jump.

"Is something wrong?" Mel asked softly.

Aqua looked from one worried face to the other and tried to smile reassuringly. Mel was exceptionally good at reading people, and Ven knew her too well to be so easily deceived.

"I'm just concerned, that's all. Listen, why don't you two go get something to eat? I'm going to go find Merlin. I'll catch up with you in a bit, okay?" she smiled again and turned to leave.

Ven raised a hand to detain her, but before he could speak he was brought to a halt and looked down with surprise to find Mel holding his other arm close with both of hers. She shook her head imperceptibly from side to side, and Ven relented. Leo tried to get in the way, but he was too used to complying with Aqua and he didn't push it any further the second time she pushed his muzzle away without a word. She didn't come across a detaining strategy from Terra as she left, which she had again mixed feelings about.

Merlin wasn't in, and Aqua met Rhiannon on her way back with a scowl. "Bloody typical…" she muttered, and elaborated on Merlin's absence and Rosie's prior ill health. "Always the way, ay?" she sighed and gave Aqua a frank look. "Bet Master Kaoru would have a field day with Rosie over this."

"What do you mean?" Aqua asked as they walked past each other.

"I mean t'say…" Rhiannon frowned slightly before shaking her head. "Master Kaoru never liked the Mage's or their Guilds. He tinks they cause too much trouble in the Worlds. All this that Rosie's just come out with – he'd see it as an affront to the Keyblade's Order. Still," she looked wonderingly up at the sky as the possibilities flitted through her mind. "To tink a _Mage_ of all people would have known about the Keyblade Dragon, rather than a wielder of the Keyblade…"

"I know." Aqua was a little over whelmed herself.

"Never even heard of it until Master Yen Sid sent that message." Rhiannon shrugged it off. "Oh well. Plenty of time to fret over it later. Come by HQ later, Rinoa bullied Leon into letting us 'ave at that there ale."

Merlin wasn't home, but Aqua still went over his bookshelves in a futile attempt to find answers. If nothing else, it gave her time to clear her mind. So somewhere there was a poem about the 'Keeper' of the Keyblade Dragon, and another entitled _Dearly Beloved_…that phrase rang a bell, and she didn't think it was from the generic phrase usually used to open a matrimonial ceremony. It was loaded with some other meaning that was just beyond the reach of her conscious mind…

"Aqua?"

Aqua jumped and spun round to find Terra standing behind her. "What?" she snapped, annoyed he had snuck up on her unannounced.

Terra raised his hands in surrender and took a step back. "You okay? You've been acting kinda weird recently…"

"Oh have I?" she demanded before turning her back and glaring at the innocent tomes arranged chaotically along the wall. She didn't respond when she felt a hand on her shoulder, nor when she heard Terra sigh.

"Okay, I know you're annoyed with me," Aqua snorted and he chose to ignore it. "I dunno what I did, but I'm sorry, all right?"

"How can you be sorry for something you don't even know you did?" she demanded angrily. Why was she being so childish? Master Eraqus would have been disappointed in her behaviour…

"I don't know!" Terra raised his hands again, as if to defend himself. "All right? Ever since the Heartless and those…_things_ attacked, everything's been messed up. And I know you've been worried about Mel, and everyone else, and its put you under a lot of stress. I just don't understand what I've done."

Aqua closed her eyes tight and wished she was in bed asleep and didn't have to deal with this. Had she just made it all up in her head…?

"You seem…" she began haltingly, and then in a rush before she inwardly burst, "seem rather _friendly_ with Rosie, all of a sudden." She looked up to see Terra's blank expression.

"_Rosie_?" he asked, confused. "But…"

Aqua bit her lip before it suddenly clicked in Terra's mind, and he laughed with relief.

"You mean Ven was right?"

"Right about what?" she said defensively, and jumped when Terra grabbed her in a bear hug.

"He said you were jealous of Rosie, and I said I didn't believe him!" he giggled like an idiot and Aqua fought out of his embrace, face heated with embarrassment. "Was that really all?"

Aqua spluttered for a moment before rounding on him. "How _dare_ you-!"

"Oh shut up," Terra grinned, running a hand through her hair in what was meant to be a soft caress, but which she deflected with a strong block that she didn't lower even after his hand had been removed.

"Why'd I be interested in her anyway?" he asked, still amused.

How could he find this funny?!

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" she demanded. "You've been paying her an awful lot of attention recently."

Terra blinked. "She's interesting to talk to." He stated. "And she's friend's with Lynn. Or rather, Evie…" he frowned for a moment.

"She seemed rather warm towards you." Aqua cringed at the scathing tone in her own voice.

"Because she was grateful I stayed with Lynn when she was having a break down." Terra explained carefully. "She was really worried about her. Rosie's just a really nice person, that's all – she didn't want to seem ungrateful. I don't _like_ her like that."

"Oh?" Aqua tried to remain annoyed, but her anger had evaporated. She just didn't like giving in so easily to him.

Terra smirked and took a step forward, making Aqua retreat until her back hit the bookshelves. "No, I don't. I mean, sure she's got a pretty smile and all, but that's not everything, right?"

Aqua's pulse quickened, and not because she was annoyed. Terra loomed over her in a now familiar gesture, and she prepared herself to fight back against whatever tactics he deployed against her this time.

"She's not…oh, how do I put it?" he played absently with a lock of her hair, and Aqua folded her arms stubbornly in response and tried to glower up at him. "She's just not _my type_, if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't." she snapped, heart racing.

"Rosie's not that aggressive. She only stands up to Rhiannon in Lynn's best interest, and she's a psychologist so she can handle Lynn's problems, and deal with people in general. But she yields too easily." He grinned at Aqua's expression. "I need someone who isn't _broken_ so easily. And it just so happens you pose an _excellent_ challenge to someone like me."

Aqua snorted and managed to affect a haughty and flippant demeanour. "Someone like you? Really now."

"Yeah," Terra smirked, leaning his face close to hers so she could feel his breath on her skin. "I'm an obnoxious little boy and I need someone to keep me in line, and you're the only one strong enough to do it."

Aqua's eyes widened before she burst out laughing, raising a hand to her mouth to stem the tide of mirth while Terra leaned closer, laughing as well with their foreheads pressed together.

Once upon a time, when they were young and care free, they had argued about who would become a Master first. Naturally, they had been striving to out do each other at the time, and what Terra had said just now was effectively the insult Aqua had used against him in an attempt to deflate his ego. Needless to say, it had failed at the time, but the fact that he had remembered her nearly word for word was rather…endearing. It was completely ridiculous, which fuelled her laughter all the more.

"You're an idiot." She accused him, still giggling.

"Oh, and you're not?" he asked, cupping her face gently with his right hand, sobering slowly with a smile. "You thought I fancied Rosie…as if!"

Aqua felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly banished as Terra lowered his face to her neck and kissed her.

"Because really, when it comes down to it," he murmured against her skin while Aqua's heart started doing somersaults. "She couldn't hold a candle to you."

"Oh yes?" Aqua wanted to sound strong and solid, but it came out as a breathy whimper.

"And besides," Terra lifted his face to hover in front of hers, giving her eyes a deep and searching look that made her want to pounce him. "She reminds me of Mel. And Mel's like my little sister." His brow creased. "That would just be weird."

They stood there for a moment gazing intently into each other's eyes, and he raised his eyebrows questioningly as Aqua's annoyance replaced itself at the forefront of her thoughts, though for entirely different reasons this time.

"What?"

"Kiss me." She demanded firmly, this time.

Terra's eyes flashed and he gave her a grin. "See what I mean? I need a woman who puts up a good fight,"

"I'll give you a fight," she muttered reaching up to grab his face before he could dodge aside.

The kiss was rough, as if he were goading her into fighting for dominance, and she didn't want to disappoint. After a while, she forgot why she was fighting, and just gave herself up to the sensations; she was dimly aware of their current location, but the way Terra's fingers trailed just under the hem of her shirt teasingly was a wonderful distraction.

"Oh gees!" Ven groaned.

Aqua opened her eyes and felt her face burn when she realised just how closely entwined their bodies were, and where exactly her hands had wandered to while they kissed.

"Stop trying to get in each other's pants!" Ven snapped from the doorway. "C'mon! Lynn and Rhi're organising fish and chips, and there's booze!" he jumped away from the door and disappeared outside.

Terra turned his scowl from Ven's vacated place to Aqua, looking anxious. She was still trying to slow her breathing down, but other than that she was really in no rush.

"Maybe we should…you know…" Terra ran a hand through his hair, avoiding her gaze and generally acting in a sheepish manner.

"Know what?" she couldn't resist winding him up, and let her finger twine themselves into his hair while she nuzzled his cheek, just out of range of his lips.

"Go…back…" Terra struggled with some internal dilemma, and she decided to let him make his mind up by himself, so Aqua let go of him and leaned back against the bookcase, never minding that it was rather uncomfortable. She may have adopted a more seductive pose than she had intended, because the look on Terra's face gave her a familiar swooping sensation right before he sprang. "Gah – _screw_ it!"

As they continued from where they had left off, Aqua noticed something and chose to point it out to him. "You could really use a hair cut."

"Shut up," Terra hissed under his breath.

XOXOX


End file.
